Pay Equity in the News October 19th, 2007

I am sending this week’s news clips with our sincere congratulations to Wendy Robbins, who received the Governor General's Award in Commemoration of the Persons Case. I want to correct a couple of errors in the article on Wendy, however: 1) pay equity has NOT been applied to the public sector yet; and 2) the Coalition did receive funding from Status of Women Canada but this funding will NOT cover our advocacy activities.

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Je vous envoie les articles de la semaine avec nos plus sincères félicitations pour Wendy Robbins, qui a reçu le Prix du Gouverneur général en commémoration de l’Affaire Personne. Je corrige cependant deux erreurs qui se sont glissées dans l’article au sujet de Wendy: 1) l’équité salariale n’a pas encore été appliqué dans le secteur public; et 2) la Coalition a reçu du financement de Condition féminine Canada mais ce financement ne couvrira pas nos activités de revendication.

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N.B. woman 'a force - one who has broken through many, many barriers'

Rights Wendy Robbins receives national award for her contributions toward equality for women

Rob Linke
TELEGRAPH-JOURNAL

Published Thursday October 18th, 2007

Appeared on page A5

OTTAWA - As a social activist, a pioneer in women's studies and a champion of the cause of pay equity in New Brunswick, Wendy Robbins is hardly one to shrink from a battle.

Yet with the spotlight of recognition on her Wednesday at Rideau Hall, her voice catches, her eyes well over and she interrupts her speech for just a second to compose herself.

Nervous? Hardly.

Robbins, the only Atlantic Canadian this year to receive the prestigious Governor General's Award in Commemoration of the Persons Case, explained later that she was suddenly overwhelmed.

For her, this ceremony illustrated both how far women have come, and how far they have yet to go.

"It was very emotional as I thought of my daughter," said Robbins, a few minutes after posing for photographers with the other recipients and Gov. Gen. Michaëlle Jean. "She was a Rhodes scholar, able to do things my mother wasn't able to do.

"Things are remarkably different in our generation than in our parents' generation, and they're even more different for our children. That's the direction I want to keep things heading in."

The award Robbins received is given to just five women a year for a lifetime of contributions toward equality for women. That number - five - itself pays tribute to the five remarkable Canadian women who triumphed in the 1929 Persons Case that finally granted all women legal recognition in Canada.

"Wendy has brought so much energy and so many people together behind her," said her friend Michèle Ollivier, a sociologist at the University of Ottawa. "She's a force - one who has broken through many, many barriers. It has not always been easy for her to be at the forefront."

Robbins, a distinguished academic, co-founded the women's studies interdisciplinary program at the University of New Brunswick. She had also served as the research director of the Canadian Advisory Council on the Status of Women and co-founded one of the world's first online feminist discussion lists.

She has also been a leader in the pay equity battle, co-founding the coalition that brought pay equity to the provincial civil service.

Robbins' sense of social justice was born of the frustration she felt as a young woman growing up in a Quebec ruled by ironfisted premier Maurice Duplessis.

That's when she saw the sexist obstacles her mother Catherine, now in her eighties, encountered.

Despite being a gold medalist at McGill University in the Quebec of the 1940s and 1950s, Robbins' mother was not allowed to license the family car or get a bank account in her own name or negotiate a loan. Women had only won the right to vote in provincial elections in that province a few years before.

At 10 or 11 years old, Robbins was infuriated to learn women were discriminated against. It infuriates her still.

When Robbins herself was in university, she had to fight against a cap on how many women were accepted into graduate school.

While living in a residence for graduate women, she was exposed to a measles outbreak while pregnant. She was stunned to realize her choices were to either run the risk of raising a deaf-mute child, or having an abortion, which was a crime.

"That got me thinking about how those rights are important, too," she said.

As a professor of English literature, she worked with other academics at the University of New Brunswick to start a women's studies program.

There were already women - primarily francophone Acadians in the Moncton area - working on pay equity when she got involved and became a co-founder of the coalition that pushed change in New Brunswick.

"Sometimes you're just jumping in at the right time to put another shoulder to the wheel," she said.

She and Ollivier, who had worked with her at the old Advisory Council on the Status of Women, started up PAR-L, a listserv that keeps activists, researchers and others from across the country in touch and up-to-date on the issues.

"That was just when personal computers and the Internet were becoming more common," she said, and studies showed just five per cent of online users were women. "There was this huge gap."

One of her biggest accomplishments came to fruition just last year.

She and her friend Rosemary Morgan, a lawyer with the Canadian Association of University Teachers, helped lead the fight to compel Industry Canada, which funds the lucrative Canada Research Chairs program for academics, to open up the awarding of those chairs to more women, natives and visible minorities and the disabled. Millions of dollars in research grants will now flow more equitably thanks to their efforts.

"She's tenacious - she doesn't let go," said Morgan. "She was very much the organizer of all the academics behind that."

Now, Robbins sees women's rights suffering setbacks under the federal Conservatives.

"We're going backwards, we really are."

Regional status of women offices have closed. The coalition for pay equity in New Brunswick no longer has any federal funding. The National Association for Women and the Law, a close ally in some of her battles, closed last week. The flagship Canadian Research Institute for the Advancement of Women will close in March.

"You can see I'm not a huge fan of Stephen Harper," she said, lowering her voice to a whisper and glancing around in mock nervousness in the back of a Rideau Hall ballroom.

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L'Acadie Nouvelle
Opinion, vendredi, 19 octobre 2007, p. 13

Briser le cycle de la pauvreté
Au niveau du salaire minimum, le Canada fait piètre figure. Le salaire minimum moyen au Canada est de 7,65 $. En Irlande, en France, en l'Australie et au Royaume-Uni, il dépasse les 12 $ l'heure.

Danielle Savoie

Des milliers de personnes ont participé, cette semaine, à des rassemblements à travers le monde pour appuyer la Journée internationale pour l'élimination de la pauvreté.

Nous n'aurions plus besoin de manifester si nos politiciens avaient tenu l'engagement pris à la Chambre des communes en 1989 "... d'éliminer la pauvreté infantile au Canada d'ici l'an 2000".

Malheureusement, ce n'est pas le cas!

Cette semaine, dans le discours du Trône, le gouvernement Harper s'est lui aussi engagé à lutter contre la pauvreté et à "aider ceux qui cherchent à briser le cycle de l'itinérance et de la pauvreté".

Si le gouvernement Harper veut vraiment briser le cercle de la pauvreté, il aurait dû annoncer un salaire fédéral minimum de 10 $ l'heure comme le réclament de nombreux groupes sociaux.

Assurer un salaire minimum de subsistance serait un bon point de départ pour éliminer la pauvreté.

Au niveau du salaire minimum, le Canada fait piètre figure. Le salaire minimum moyen au Canada est de 7,65 $. En Irlande, en France, en l'Australie et au Royaume-Uni, il dépasse les 12 $ l'heure.

Au Nouveau-Brunswick, le salaire minimum est encore plus bas que la moyenne nationale, il se chiffre à 7,25 $ l'heure. Un salaire de grève-faim!

En 2006, selon Statistique Canada, 13 000 personnes travaillaient au salaire minimum au Nouveau-Brunswick et plus de 60 % d'entre elles étaient des femmes.

Lorsqu'on travaille au salaire minimum, ça veut dire que l'on vit dans la pauvreté et on gagne à peine 15 000 $ par année. Ça, c'est si vous avez un emploi à temps plein.

Bon nombre de travailleurs et de travailleuses au Nouveau-Brunswick ont des emplois saisonniers. Ils gagnent peut-être un peu plus que le salaire minimum, mais sont au chômage une partie de l'année si, bien sûr, ils réussissent à travailler assez d'heures pour être admissibles à des prestations.

Ce sont ces travailleurs et ces travailleuses qui souvent doivent aller aux comptoirs alimentaires et faire un choix entre payer le loyer, le chauffage, l'essence pour aller travailler ou manger. Un cercle vicieux qui n'en finit pas, car ils n'arrivent jamais à prendre le dessus.

Le temps des promesses est terminé, il faut que les gouvernements passent à l'action.

Le Nouveau-Brunswick devrait faire comme le Québec et adopter une loi visant à lutter contre la pauvreté, se fixer des objectifs clairs et un échéancier.

Une augmentation substantielle du salaire minimum à 10 $ l'heure comme le réclament les groupes sociaux permettrait à tous ces travailleurs et travailleuses d'avoir un revenu décent et de se maintenir au-dessus du seuil de la pauvreté.

J'entends déjà les gens d'affaires monter aux barricades. "On ne peut pas payer ces salaires, on ne sera plus compétitif, on va devoir fermer les portes, on va perdre des emplois..." Bref, la même rengaine qu'on entend lorsqu'on parle d'équité salariale.

Pourtant, cet argent additionnel reviendrait et serait dépensé dans les communautés.

Dans certains pays comme le Royaume-Uni où il y a eu des hausses importantes du salaire minimum, des études ont démontré qu'il n'y a pas eu de pertes d'emplois comme le prédisait le monde des affaires et qu'au contraire, cela a plutôt eu un impact positif sur la productivité.

Le gouvernement Graham devrait aussi tenir ses promesses et adopter une loi sur l'équité salariale. Au Nouveau-Brunswick, les femmes gagnent en moyenne 2,41 $ l'heure de moins que les hommes pour un travail de valeur égale.

Lors de la marche contre la pauvreté à Moncton, le message a été très clair, le gouvernement doit aussi augmenter les prestations d'aide sociale.

Un programme de garderie et un programme national d'assurance-médicaments pour les aînés sont des éléments essentiels dans une stratégie pour éliminer la pauvreté.

Mais surtout, il faut que le gouvernement arrête de refiler ses responsabilités au secteur communautaire. Par exemple, quand le gouvernement laisse au secteur privé et aux organismes communautaires la prestation des soins à domicile, il contribue à maintenir les femmes dans la pauvreté, car elles se retrouvent dans des emplois précaires et à temps partiel sans aucun avantage social.

Si le gouvernement provincial est vraiment sérieux avec sa politique sur l'autosuffisance, s'il veut vraiment mettre "les enfants au premier plan" et bâtir un avenir, il doit arrêter de maintenir les parents dans la pauvreté.

La vraie autosuffisance, c'est d'aider les travailleurs et les travailleuses à avoir un salaire adéquat pour leur permettre de rester dans leur communauté et de ne pas être obligés de s'exiler en Alberta pour survivre.

dsavoie3@nb.sympatico.ca

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Answer the immediate needs, then ask 'why?'

Ginette Petitpas-Taylor

Times and Transcript

Published Thursday September 27th, 2007

Appeared on page D8

"I can recall being told at board meetings on more than one occasion that charities should be run like a business. Considering that Canadian charities hold assets of billions of dollars, have negligible debt, rarely go bankrupt and are consumed by mission, driven by passion and achieve social miracles with limited resources, I would suggest that more businesses should be run like charities."

That's one of my favourite quotes, made by a Saint John community group, from this month's report by the Premier's Community Non-Profit Task Force, presided over by Claudette Bradshaw.

Community groups are indeed under-appreciated -- they get short shrift even as we all, including governments, depend on them more and more.

Give community groups as much respect and support as government gives to business, said another community group to Task Force.

What if?

What if government provided to community groups some of the same financial assistance, networking opportunities and help in hiring and training employees that it does to businesses?

Communities would certainly be better off, let alone community groups and their employees.

As the task force report showed, the non-profit workforce is made up of low paid, mainly female staff who mostly don't have employee benefits.

The task force's final message is a strong challenge to government: Give groups respect, give them more financial stability to allow them to work at root causes rather than symptoms, and work to change attitudes so that we see investing in the non-profit sector as community economic development.

Mrs. Bradshaw's Non-Profit Task Force -- both the process that was followed with groups and the final report -- has made some people believe that a new relationship will indeed be forged with the non-profit sector.

We all await the provincial government's reaction to this report.

If the result of this excellent process is to "institutionalize" services that cover for society's problems and for government's social deficit -- for example, if it only serves to make food banks permanent and better funded -- then we have done worse than waste time.

"When I gave food to the poor, they called me a saint. When I asked why the poor have no food, they called me a communist." That quote by former Brazilian Bishop Helda Camara summarizes the issue.

It is as if, for some, charity is good but social justice is evil.

We need both. Charity is directed at symptoms. Social justice is about "looking up the river" as in that oft-repeated story about villagers living on the edge of a river who start seeing babies floating down the river: They rescue them, and since babies keep coming every day, the villagers build watch towers, prepare clothing for those who survive and give awards to the volunteers, until one day, a group of villagers prepare to go along the river banks to find out what is happening. The other villagers shout, "You can't leave us! We need you here to help save them!"

Which non-profit groups will be included in that new relationship with the provincial government?

That's one crucial issue no one has yet broached.

"Non-profit groups" is hardly a definition. Groups "that don't make a profit" include everything from food banks to sports teams, breast-feeding support groups to search and rescue, festival committees, literacy services, seniors and youth drop-in centres, school breakfast committees and support groups of all types.

More to my point, "non-profit groups" also includes groups advocating for change, for solutions to poverty, violence, eating disorders, pay discrimination and homophobia, in support of aboriginal rights, cycling trails, prisoners' rights, environmental protection and child care, for and against religious education and what have you.

A can of worms? Not really.

It should not be controversial to support reducing poverty, violence and discrimination. The government cannot be seen to be maintaining problems, instead of solving them, which would be the result of only including service-delivery groups among the non-profit groups that it assists and consults.

As New Brunswick advocacy groups said last week, "While the provision of direct services such as food banks and health and educational programs is important, it is critical to address the root causes of such problems as poverty and hunger. It is important that groups are able to devote a portion or all of their resources to advocacy work, and crucial that those whose work involves advocacy have a voice."

Many inequities remain in this province -- poverty being high on the list -- things that do not change without advocacy. Groups that represent the interests of society's most marginalized populations must have a voice.

The English-language groups consulted by the Task Force recommended that the provincial government offer dedicated funding for advocacy groups, coalitions and umbrella groups which contribute to research and policy development. The French-language groups had a similar recommendation in favour of support for groups that speak up for rights guaranteed under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

The representative of the New Brunswick Coalition of Transition Houses, a group that has suffered at the hands of the federal government's recent fury against advocacy groups, told the Task Force, "When groups do not have the time, resources and freedom to speak up about the needs and reality of their community, society as a whole loses. Advocacy is part of democracy -- it's a catalyst for change for the better."

Bravo, Mr. Premier. Bravo, Claudette. Bravo, the 1,100 groups who met with the Task Force.

Now what will change?

Ginette Petitpas-Taylor, of Moncton, is Chairperson of the New Brunswick Advisory Council on the Status Of Women. Her column on women's issues appears in the Times & Transcript every Thursday. She may be reached via e-mail at acswcccf@gnb.ca

Mise à jour - écart salarial / Update - Action on the wage gap

Hier, le gouvernement provincial a lancé un rapport d'étape sur son plan 2005-2010 sur l'écart salarial entre les femmes et les hommes au N.-B. Il a fixé quatre cibles, soit :

Atteindre un taux nul d’iniquité salariale dans les quatre parties du secteur public.
Réduire l’écart des salaires néo-brunswickois à 10 p. 100 d’ici à 2010.
Les femmes comptent pour au moins le tiers de tous les postes décisionnels au sein gouvernement du N.-B., ainsi que dans ses conseils et ses commissions.
Pas plus du tiers des femmes qui travaillent se retrouvent dans les 10 postes les plus fréquemment occupés par des femmes au N.-B.

Le gouvernement a aussi lancé un site internet et des outils pour employeurs ainsi que les indicateurs de progrès. D’ici 2010 :

un plus grand nombre de personnes sondées seront tout à fait d’accord avec l’énoncé : « Il est acceptable qu’une femme travaille à l’extérieur de la maison, et ce, même si la famille n’a pas besoin d’argent. » un plus grand nombre de personnes sondées seront tout à fait d’accord avec l’énoncé : « Les couples devraient partager les tâches ménagères à part égale si les deux conjoints travaillent à l’extérieur du foyer. » un plus grand pourcentage de femmes parmi les juges, les membres des organismes, conseils et commissions nommés par la province, les membres du conseil des ministres, et chez les députés. davantage de places en garderies agréées au N.-B. un plus grand nombre d’employeurs aideront leurs employés à accéder à des services de garde, soit par l’entremise d’octrois directs pour la garde des enfants, soit par le biais d’un soutien concret à des établissements de garde d’enfants. un meilleur équilibre entre les sexes pour ce qui est du nombre d’adultes néo-brunswickois qui consacrent plusieurs heures par semaine à leurs responsabilités familiales. un plus grand nombre d’employeurs offriront des milieux de travail qui tiennent compte des besoins des familles. moins de femmes qui travaillent dans les dix emplois le plus souvent occupés par des femmes. un plus grand nombre d’ouvrières qualifiées agréées au N.-B., et les femmes constitueront une part plus importante de l’ensemble des ouvriers qualifiés agréés. les écarts salariaux entre les diplômés et les diplômées des établissements postsecondaires seront réduits. un plus grand nombre de femmes occuperont des postes de direction. un plus grand nombre d’employeurs utiliseront un système d’évaluation qui tient compte des différences entre les hommes et les femmes. on aura réduit l’écart salarial entre les emplois occupés traditionnellement par les hommes et par les femmes (c’est-à-dire les 10 les plus souvent occupés), en fonction des revenus annuels moyens pondérés.

- www.gnb.ca/0012/Womens-Issues/wg-es/index-f.asp ; www.gnb.ca/0012/Womens-Issues/wg-es/pdf/3720%20ProgressReport-f.pdf

Voici l'écart salarial moyen entre les femmes et les hommmes au N.-B. depuis 1997, soit, la différence entre la moyenne des salaires horaires des deux sexes :
1997: 20%
1998: 18,6%
1999: 19,1%
2000: 22,5%
2001: 21%
2002: 18,8%
2003: 17,3%
2004: 15,4%
2005: 14,3%
2006: 12%

Source: Statistique Canada, CANSIM 282-0072.

L'écart salarial au Canada en 2006 était de 16,2%.

Voici la réaction du Conseil consultatif à cette annonce :

Le gouvernement provincial devrait adopter des critères beaucoup plus rigoureux pour déterminer l'efficacité de son plan d'action sur l'écart salarial entre les hommes et les femmes, selon la présidente du Conseil consultatif sur la condition de la femme. Ginette Petitpas-Taylor dit que le Conseil consultatif est prêt à accepter des mesures volontaires pour une période d'évaluation s'il était prévu qu'après quatre ou cinq ans une évaluation rigoureuse allait déterminer son efficacité et s'il fallait plutôt adopter une loi. Elle dit que les critères annoncés mercredi par le gouvernement (Rapport d'étape sur le Plan d'action quinquennal sur l'écart salarial au Nouveau-Brunswick - Hiver 2007) sont vagues et ne permettront pas de mesurer si un progrès réel a été réalisé.

"L'écart salarial moyen entre les femmes et les hommes au Nouveau-Brunswick était de 22% en 2000. En 2006, il était de 12%. Maintenant que le gouvernement a un plan, il se propose de réduire cet écart à 10% par 2010. Évidemment, ce niveau est réalisable. Mais est-ce que nous aurons plus d'équité salariale ? Est-ce que les emplois traditionnellement féminins seront payés à leur juste valeur ? Le plan du gouvernement adopte comme un des indicateurs de progrès que par l'an 2010, un plus grand nombre d'employeurs utiliseront un système d'évaluation non sexiste des postes. Qu'est-ce qu'un plus grand nombre? Une autre cible est qu'en 2010, l'écart salarial entre les emplois occupés traditionnellement par un sexe ou l'autre aura été réduit. Mais de combien?" de dire Madame Petitpas-Taylor.

Nous applaudissons le fait que le gouvernement provincial reconnaisse que l'écart salarial est un problème - toutes les autres juridictions n'en font pas autant. Nous applaudissons l'engagement du gouvernement à assurer l'équité salariale à ses fonctionnaires et les employées des hôpitaux, des écoles et des agences publiques ainsi que les employées des services de garde d'enfants, des services d'aides à domicile et des maisons de transition. Et nous sommes d'accord avec le gouvernement quant aux causes de l'écart salarial, soit le partage inégal des obligations familiales, le regroupement des femmes dans certains emplois et la sous évaluation des emplois traditionnellement féminins. Mais le plan du gouvernement fait trop peu pour corriger ce dernier facteur et cette iniquité salariale ne disparaîtra pas d'elle-même. Il est bien d'encourager les femmes de se lancer dans les emplois non traditionnels mais les emplois traditionnels des femmes sont importants aussi et la plupart sont sous rémunérés."


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Yesterday, the provincial government released the first report on its 2005-2010 Wage Gap Action Plan. The plan sets 4 targets:
Achieve zero pay inequity within all 4 parts of the public sector.
Reduce the N.B. wage gap to 10% by 2010.
Females comprise a minimum of 1/3 of all decision-making positions within the Government of New Brunswick and its Boards and Commissions.
A maximum of 1/3 of working women are clustered within the 10 most commonly held positions by women within New Brunswick.

A website and tools for employers were also launched yesterday, as well as the indicators that will be monitored for progress. By 2010, the plan expects:

More New Brunswickers surveyed will strongly agree with the statement: "It is alright for a woman to work outside the home, even if her family does not need the money." More New Brunswickers surveyed will strongly agree with the statement: "Couples should share equally in household chores if they are both working outside the home." Higher percentages of women will be provincially appointed judges, members of ABCs, members of cabinet and MLAs. More licensed child care spaces in New Brunswick. More employers will be assisting their employees with access to child care, either through direct child care subsidies, or through actual support of child care facilities. Greater gender equality in the number of adult New Brunswickers who are performing many hours of family responsibilities each week. More employers will be offering family-friendly workplaces options. Fewer women working in the ten most common jobs held by women. More female journeypersons registered in New Brunswick, and women will represent more of all registered journeypersons. Wage gaps between male and female graduates of post-secondary institutions will be reduced. More women in key decision-making positions in the workplace. More employers will be using gender-sensitive job evaluation. The wage gap between male and female traditional jobs (defined as the 10 most common), based on the weighted average annual earnings, will be reduced.
- www.gnb.ca/0012/Womens-Issues/wg-es/index-e.asp ; www.gnb.ca/0012/Womens-Issues/wg-es/pdf/3720%20ProgressReport-e.pdf

Here is the pay gap in N.B. since 1997, expressed as the difference in the average hourly wage of women and men:

1997: 20%
1998: 18.6%
1999: 19.1%
2000: 22.5%
2001: 21%
2002: 18.8%
2003: 17.3%
2004: 15.4%
2005: 14.3%
2006: 12%

Source: Statistics Canada, CANSIM 282-0072.

The Canadian pay gap in 2006 was 16.2%.

Following is the Advisory Council's media release in reaction to this plan:

The provincial government needs more rigorous criteria to determine if its plan to close the pay gap between women and men is working, according to the Chairperson of the Advisory Council on the Status of Women. Ginette Petitpas-Taylor says the Advisory Council could live with voluntary measures for a test period, if an evaluation was planned after five years to determine if it was producing results, and to introduce legislation if it were not. The criteria announced Wednesday (Progress Report on New Brunswick’s Five Year Wage Gap Action Plan - Winter 2007) by the government is too vague to measure if real results are being produced.

"The average pay gap between women and men in New Brunswick was 22% in 2000. By 2006, it was 12%. Now, the provincial government has a plan to reduce the gap to 10% by 2010. That is likely to happen. But will there be more pay equity? Will traditionally female jobs be paid according to their value? One target set by the government is that by 2010, more employers should be using gender-sensitive job evaluation. How many is more? Another target is that by 2010 the wage gap between traditional male and female jobs will be reduced. By how much?" said Ginette Petitpas-Taylor following the New Brunswick government's release of its "Progress Report on New Brunswick's Five-Year Wage Gap Action Plan."

"We applaud the fact that the government recognizes that the pay gap is a problem - not all jurisdictions are doing as much. We applaud the provincial government's commitment to enacting pay equity for its civil servants, and for employees in hospitals, schools, public agencies and for child care, home support and transition house workers. We also applaud the government's analysis that the pay gap is caused by three factors - the unequal sharing of family responsibilities, the job clustering of women into too few occupations and the low pay that has always been the lot of female-dominated jobs. The government's plan does too little to correct this last factor, and this is one factor that will not correct itself. It is fine to encourage women to go into better paying non-traditional occupations, but traditionally female jobs are important and most are underpaid."

The best tool for pay equity? Legislation!

The Coalition for Pay Equity considers that the Liberal government’s announcement falls short of the promises made. The Coalition denounces the government’s lack of commitment to adopt pay equity legislation as promised in the last election campaign.

“ Making pay equity tools available to employers is essential, but without legislation, these tools may very well be completely useless. It is like offering someone a new car without a motor. One wouldn’t make it very far!” says Anne-Marie Gammon, president of the NB Coalition for Pay Equity.

The government revealed this morning a variety of wage gap reduction strategies for employers, as well as its new Wage Gap Action Plan website and progress report.

“ The tools that have been developed show that the province is now in a position to implement pay equity legislation. The government must act now, ” insists the Coalition leader.

“ The Liberal party, with its Charter for Change, committed to adopting pay equity legislation in the public sector and to working with stakeholders on developing legislation for the private sector,” points out Anne-Marie Gammon.

The Coalition firmly believes pay equity legislation is critical because it means:

• clarifying the process for both employers and employees;
• defining both parties’ obligations;
• ensuring that appropriate wage adjustments are made;
• providing for an appeal process;
• providing for an implementation and control system, such as a Pay Equity Commission;
• and ensuring fair treatment, as everyone responds to the same set of rules.
  

“Without legislation, employers – from both the public and private sectors – could unfortunately opt out of implementing pay adjustments even after going through the job evaluation process,” says Anne-Marie Gammon.

In fact, 82% of Quebec employers who launched a pay equity process within their company admitted having done so because of the province’s Pay Equity Act.

Pay equity means equal pay for work of equal value. Pay equity legislation means assessing predominantly female and predominantly male jobs. Where the value of predominantly female jobs equals that of predominantly male jobs, wages for predominantly female jobs must be adjusted to match those of predominantly male jobs.