[ad_1]
JOHN KIRK-ANDERSON / THINGS
Kerry Davies, the new co-leader of the PSA.
The country’s largest union has confirmed its first all-female leadership.
Kerry Davies will replace Glenn Barclay, who is retiring as one of the two national secretaries of the Public Service Association.
She has been Acting National Secretary since late 2018, while Erin Polaczuk was on maternity leave.
Now the two women will lead the 77,000-member union.
READ MORE:
* ‘I thought we were more progressive’: gender barriers in New Zealand’s education sector
* 13 Hour Clock for Women: The Answer to Fix Pay Discrimination in New Zealand
Davies said she was honored to be named.
“Workers are more than numbers, we are complete human beings. The union movement must speak out and be heard not only about the problems of the workplace, but about all the problems of inequality and injustice in our society.”
The government is working to ensure that the public service has gender pay parity and has already reached its 2021 goal of having 50% female representation on state sector boards.
For the first time in almost two decades, more than half of the top leadership positions in the public service are held by women.
And by the end of the year, all government agencies are expected to have closed any gender pay gap within the same roles. In 2018 there was a gender pay gap of 12.5 in the public service.
