The NDP is the only party prepared to address pay equity

In its platform, the NDP commits to ensuring pay equity by enacting the recommendations of the Pay Equity Task Force.

After decades of successive Liberal governments fighting pay equity court decisions, the Pay Equity Task Force report was tabled in 2004. It called on public sector employers to actively identify and eliminate wage discrimination, to involve unions in pay equity plans, and to create a new pay equity agency. The Conservative government ignored the recommendations.

The Canadian gender pay gap is the eighth largest among OECD countries. Women’s median employment incomes are 34 per cent lower than men’s. Even women working full time still earn 23 per cent less than their male counterparts. The gap is bigger for women of colour, Aboriginal women and women with disabilities.

CUPE has been a leader in the fight for pay equity across Canada. We’re pleased with the NDP commitment to close the gender pay gap as an important first step to addressing pay discrimination against all equity-seeking groups.

Neither the Liberals nor the Conservatives have addressed pay equity issues during the election campaign.