Cold as Ice

Protest at Brooke's place.

I've seen it before; it happens all the time
You're closing the door, you leave the world behind
You're digging for gold, you're throwing away
A fortune in feelings, but someday you'll pay

You know that you are
(Cold as ice) As cold as ice to me
(Cold as ice)

Songwriters: Mick Jones / Lou Gramm.

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“My suffragette ancestors would be turning in their graves,” said the lady next to me as we waited. Disbelief, anger, sorrow, and determination echoed through the speeches at this gathering of many on a lousy day in Auckland.

If there was any question as to how women felt about the government’s actions on pay equity, I can assure you those present were not happy; they were furious and hurt, but also incredibly energised. I’ve seen many protests over the years, but nothing with this level of emotion, and I am so glad to have been there and heard the stories and the words of the women who spoke.

Earlier, when I looked out the window and listened to the rain, I did so with the enthusiasm of a parent in mid-winter, eagerly hoping to hear that kids' sports had been cancelled. Not that I was worried about getting wet, but the thought of Auckland traffic in heavy weather with the likelihood that few would make the effort on such a day left me somewhat unenthusiastic.

Popping online to check updates, I instead came across this from Bernard Hickey:

I commented, “I'm still shocked at this government stealing from unfairly underpaid women to give to wealthy landlords—it's completely fucked,” and got ready to go.

With fears of traffic, I arrived early and found just two people outside Brooke van Velden’s office. One of whom was directing people up the road to an Anglican Church, St Chad’s, given the weather.

By now, a dozen or so people were there, and I had great pleasure as we waited to meet quite a few readers of this newsletter, Gerard Otto once again, and Paul the Other One, whom I hadn’t met in person before.

Anne, Gerard, and I.

Some junior reporters were waiting, and I talked to people from both RNZ and ZB who seemed happy to have someone to record. I confess I had a cheeky dig at the guy from ZB, saying it was good to see them there in a surprised tone.

We made our way to a large room underneath the church, and first to speak was organiser Melissa from the NZCTU:

She said this change transfers wealth to those who least need it from the pockets of those who can least afford it. From the people who will spend a pay rise on groceries, or shoes for the kids and instead it’s going to landlords.

Next to speak was Ally Kingi from the New Zealand Educational Institute:

Followed by Suzie Moore of the PSA:

Suzie said, “Library workers are not meek, and neither are our unions. This is a setback, but it is not the end. We will continue to fight for pay equity, we will not be excluded from the conversation, and we will not be gaslit and told that our work is not valuable.”

Then it was Rosaria Price from the Tertiary Education Union:

She said, “Brooke wants people to think that the jobs covered by these claims are unskilled and don’t require training. But those making claims have provided hundreds of thousands of pages of evidence to show what the jobs entail.”

Sushila Devi from E Tū - Care and Support Workers was up, receiving a loud welcome.

I can’t recall such emotion at a protest. The room was packed, and so many were outside that they had to move a speaker out to the car park so people could hear.

Melissa, the organiser, spoke of the importance of hearing these stories. She said those making the decisions seem to have no idea of the reality of people’s lives and don’t want to hear it. They would like it if this just went quiet. But there is no chance of that happening.

We were told that the goalposts have been lifted to make it harder for claims to progress, which is what they want. This isn’t even about the budget, someone yelled from the crowd, it is about attacks on workers and undermining women.

The loudest cheers came when it was said that the buck stopped with Christopher Luxon. The raw feeling in the room was intense.

We moved to the politicians, Carmel Sepuloni received a warm welcome as she and other Labour MPs stepped forward.

I’m afraid the following clip from Marama is quite long. I hadn’t seen her in person since her cancer treatment, and it was an absolute privilege to witness her passion close up, albeit rather side on, as were the other videos.

Melissa summed things beautifully, saying, “The election campaign started on Tuesday.”

It surely did.

These women have fought, know how to fight, and will fight until they have justice. If Luxon thought that pulling his team in a bit early to get their spin stories in line would cut it, he’s got another thing coming.

And then it was time to march to Brooke’s office. There was a buzz and energy, and passing cars gave toots of support.

It was quite a crowd, although funnily enough, there was no sign of Ms van Velden—still, I’m sure her staff and constituents can pass on the message.

Whether she wants to hear it or not, I suspect she and her colleagues will be hearing much more about this, including, I hope, at the ballot box.

It is good to know that similar gatherings were taking place around the country, and I cannot speak highly enough of the unions through this - I hate to think where we’d be without them.

As for this government, shame on them for so cynically choosing to continue underpaying women, for casting aside the work and hopes of so many, and for what?

To pay for this year’s tax cuts for landlords. Shame. Shame on them.

If you’re a gold card holder, or a union member, there is a 20% discount, permanently.

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Related newsletters:

You’re most welcome to check out my other newsletters on pay equity below.

Yesterday I wrote a light hearted piece on the suggestion that the government could, in fact kiss our collective asses when it came to this change, inspired by an interview on 1 News:

And the previous day, I wrote about the changes that were occurring, the immediate protest in Wellington and events in the house:

Well, Substack is telling me I’ve hit the limit in terms of newsletter size. That will be the videos, but I wanted to include the speeches for people who would’ve liked to hear them but couldn’t be there.

Have a good evening, folks. It’s really coming down now in Tamaki Makaurau. I hope things aren’t too rough where you are.

Last night, I asked for suggestions for songs you’d play at a protest outside of Brooke van Velden’s office, and far and away the most popular choice was Cold As Ice by Foreigner. People were thinking of the weather, I imagine. 😉