Greens put $4.5b bill on first part of reversing government's pay equity changes

The Green Party has pledged to reinstate the pay equity scheme and fund a settlement for the 65,000 care and support workers whose claim was stopped by the government's changes .

It estimated that particular settlement would cost just shy of $4.5b over four years, but told RNZ it had not costed restoring the pay equity scheme.

Last year the government overhauled the Equal Pay Act, retrospectively stripping nurses, teachers, carers and other female-dominated workforces of the right to pursue pay equity claims under the existing law .

The controversial legislation stopped the 33 claims underway and raised the threshold for proving work has been historically undervalued.

At the time, Finance Minister Nicola Willis said savings amounted to about $12.8b over the next four years .

The Greens would reverse those changes if elected, but were open to making improvements to the scheme.