What were the key findings from the Inquiry? Pacific workers While Pacific workers did tell us about their positive experiences at work, we repeatedly heard about the barriers they face at each stage of their employment journey. This included finding a job, the recruitment process, negotiating pay, seeking promotion, upskilling, and training, communication, and awareness of employment rights. Some other barriers included: · prejudice against Pacific names and undervaluing of qualifications and work experience in the recruitment process · lack of pay transparency · Pacific men being promoted over Pacific women in organisations · feeling worthy of more pay and development opportunities but not knowing how to talk to managers about it and feeling anxious about negative repercussions · being paid little more than minimum wage despite years of accumulated skill and experience in the same job · remaining a contractor, casual worker, or seasonal worker for the same employer for years without an offer of secure employment · limited awareness of rights and obligations between employees/contractors and employers on issues of pay, leave and health and safety · agreeing in good faith to be ‘promoted’ by taking on new roles and responsibilities expecting more pay, but the employer does not follow through · uneven access to training opportunities · differing cultural norms and values and, in some cases, language barriers · lack of cultural understanding by employers of responsibilities to extended family, dependants and community that are important to worker wellbeing · experiences of interpersonal and workplace discrimination, including racism · experiences of intersectional discrimination on the grounds of disability, gender identity and ethnicity · few protections and limited awareness of employment rights, including around pay, providing fertile ground for exploitation of undocumented workers. Pacific workers told us their talent, cultural skills, knowledge, and experience are not recognised in the workplace or, where they are, not remunerated for them. Their labour is undervalued and taken for granted, and they often experience insecure employment. Pacific workers said they actively raised complaints in their workplace, but their employers did not listen to or act on their concerns. These unaddressed concerns impacted Pacific workers’ wellbeing. Taken together, Pacific workers’ experiences at each of the stages of the employment journey reveal the cumulative impact of bias, discrimination, and the undervaluing of Pacific peoples in the workplace. In each of these stages, there is an opportunity to make interventions that will eliminate practices that negatively impact Pacific workers and will contribute to closing the Pacific Pay Gap. Unions We spoke with several union Pacific Representative Bodies, along with individual workers who belonged to a union. As a group, Pacific peoples are highly represented in union membership. There remain many Pacific workers however who are not members of a union. We were particularly concerned to hear from Pacific workers who had been actively discouraged or prevented from joining a union. This a is a violation of their rights. Those Pacific workers who did belong to a union were largely positive about the benefits of belonging 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, however, we noticed that union servicing support does not always translate into Pacific-focused or even ethnicity-focused action at the campaigning level. We urge unions to ensure that ethnicity is central to their pay equity campaigning. Voices of Pacific peoples 11