Pacific union membership Many members felt that the union was an important way for them to have a voice in their employment: A good workplace is where I have the ability to feel safe to speak up … the groups give us standing, opportunity to speak and have conversations with leadership and senior leadership as a collective. (T024) A manufacturing PRB shared that collective bargaining and high union density along with a well organised “staunch” union was the crucial difference between their current pay rates, terms and conditions (overtime rates, double time on public holidays, significant night shift allowances) and the significantly inferior rates, terms and conditions they had received doing the same work at other lessunionised workplaces. Several people noted that their union was of assistance when raising complaints regarding their employer. Most of these experiences were either positive or neutral. Very few workers shared negative experiences when their concerns with their employer were raised with their union. One PRB shared that, as a result of their pay equity settlement, their collective agreements now included compulsory training, which was tied to progression and pay rises. Union campaigning for pay equity Pacific workers on the ground were largely positive about the benefits of belonging to a union, both in terms of collective bargaining improving working conditions and pay rates and of support when they needed to raise a complaint. During our Inquiry, it was raised with us that union support for servicing issues does not always translate into Pacificfocused – or even ethnicity-focused – action at the campaigning level. The PRBs commented that unions were a vehicle for change. Some members did, however, say that they felt their unions needed to prioritise the ethnic pay gap along with the gender pay gap: There has been a huge focus around the gender pay gap. And as I have specifically said before, we really need to do better and be better in this space. And one of the things I talk about is the fact that there needs to be an investment in our people whether it be via an organisation or any level of structure. Because what we constantly see when we are mobilising our people – and we are thinking about how is it that we are going to move our people – is we are often thrown in as operational tack-ons that actually aren’t sustainable. We need to be at the governance level, we need to be able to influence at that 84 particular level so that we can be holding people to account. (Pacific public sector union leader) I think some self-criticism on our part, we did that for everybody, but we’re a bit colour-blind or ethnicity blind, particularly Pacific people are in some of the lowest-paid jobs. (Pākehā private sector union leader) One of the key messages we did hear from unions was that they considered that the Pacific Pay Gap was part of their broader work around advancing pay equity. They acknowledged that discrimination was intersectional and that there was a broad need for pay transparency. Some said they were in the process of working to extend their work on the gender pay gap to include the ethnic pay gap: You asked the question, what have our unions done about the pay gap, Pacific pay gap? Well, our union in partnership with community groups and faith-based groups, have pushed for the living wage since 2012, which recently went up this month to $22.75, and we continue to advocate through many negotiations. We continue to campaign hard and we lobby government and local councils to pay their direct and indirect workers. We continue to hold these politicians