I wish she would apply this commitment in theory to gender equality to something other than making life harder for working women in practice.

Flexible work is good for everyone but especially important for women, people with disabilities, those with chronic health conditions.

IKR! It attempts to go much further than the Act provides here:

These actions undermine other employers in this sector who are trying to do the right thing.

Mediation is scheduled for Tuesday, we need calm and respectful heads to prevail and sort this out urgently.

The worst thing about the lockout is that it will impact the very people being supported by these workers.

It's important people know about this dispute and the unlawful and aggressive tactics of this employer.

Many of these workers are Māori, Pasifika, and migrant workers.

The lockout is unlawful because the employer didn’t give 14 days’ notice - as required by law - and because the employer has not outlined their negotiating demands.

The union will be seeking remedies and recovery of any money lost by workers because of the unlawful lockout.

The lockout targets Kaitaataki (house leaders for residential disability support) preventing them from working the extra hours they rely on.

A defective lockout notice was issued on Wednesday in an total overreaction by the employer.

PSA lawyers have written to the employer saying the lock out notice is "an attempt to impose unlawful and improper pressure" on the workers.

The next step was to try and intimidate the workers by attempting to lock them out of their workplace and to refuse to offer extra hours in the lead up to Christmas.

Lockouts are a harsh and unusual form of intimidation and legal precision is needed when they are used.

Restricting this right will cause unnecessary financial hardship. Its no exaggeration to say these low paid workers are doing extra jobs for their own survival.

In response to these harsh bargaining tactics by the employer, the workers started low level industrial action.

If that wasn't bad enough, they also want to restrict the ability of these workers to undertake secondary employment.

For many workers in the disability sector, secondary employment is a critical source of extra income to meet their families’ needs amidst rising living costs.