NDP calls for concrete action on pay equity

NDP calls for concrete action on pay equity

February 6, 2012

OTTAWA — NDP Status of Women Critic Françoise Boivin (Gatineau) and MP Mylène Freeman (Argenteuil—Papineau—Mirabel) today introduced a bill seeking to implement the recommendations of the pay equity task force.

“The report was tabled in 2004 and the Conservatives left it on the shelf. The bill we presented today will require them to take action and implement the report’s recommendations,” said Boivin.

Established in 2001, the pay equity task force concluded that the system of relying exclusively on the employer to ensure pay equity is inefficient.

“A woman earns 73 cents for every dollar that a man earns. This is still the reality today and the government has done nothing to improve the status of women in Canada. It’s unacceptable and has to change,” said Freeman.

The task force recommended in 2004 that the government put in place proactive pay equity legislation requiring the employer to take concrete measures so that all employees receive equal pay for work of equal value.

“This has been the law in Quebec since 1997 and has clearly contributed to decreasing the wage gap between women and men,” added Boivin. “We must ensure that all women working in the federal domain also receive equal pay. We’ve waited long enough.”