Pay equity at Canada Post
February 7, 2012
The Canada Post case proves it: we need a proactive pay equity law!
Twenty eight years. That's how long it took for the Public Service Alliance of Canada to win its pay equity complaint against Canada Post on behalf of clerical workers. If anything, this victory reinforces the fact that the government needs to change its policy and take concrete measures to respect and promote women's constitutional equality rights. It shouldn't take 28 years for women to achieve the right to equal pay for work of equal value. We need a proactive federal pay equity law now!
Yesterday, the NDP tabled the Act to Implement the Pay Equity Task Force Recommendations. In 2004, after years of research and consultation, the Task Force tabled a massive report entitled Pay Equity: a New Approach to a Fundamental Right. It recommended that Canada adopt a law on pay equity that would force employers to examine their pay practices, in collaboration with the bargaining agent, and then take concrete measures to ensure pay equity.
This is long overdue, and PSAC joins its voice in this call for proactive pay equity legislation.
The federal government's inaction on pay equity has been pointed by the United Nation and the courts. It's time for the federal government promote women's human rights, as they are protected in the Charter and in the international human rights treaties that Canada has ratified.
Read PSAC's report on the Canada Post pay equity case and the need for a proactive pay equity law.
Date Modified : 2012/02/07
