Equal Pay Strike 1986
Clerical Workers in the motor industry went on strike in 1986 to fight for equal pay. This was part of their union’s campaign to try to promote equal pay for work of equal value for women workers. Motor industry women clerical workers, with the same level of qualification as male tradesmen, were paid less – a rate based on discrimination against women to the benefit of the employer. The strike lasted a month and saw over a thousand workers, mostly male, suspended when they refused to do the duties of the striking clerical workers in solidarity with the strike. Eventually the workers picket concentrated on Todd Motors in Porirua. The assembly plant was totally surrounded by parked cars to stop the company taking its vehicles to market. The dispute was won when equal pay was agreed for the motor industry.
The workers held an awards ceremony that celebrated some of the picket line incidents including a cup awarded to the Clerical Union advocate for grabbing a managing director by his tie to urge negotiations rather than trying to break the picket line, and a medal given to a picketer for breaking a car window as it was driven through a picket line. While this strike was a success wage discrimination against female workers persists.