(VANCOUVER) Bringing in pay equity laws that cover all workers would directly strengthen the BC economy, the Canadian Union of Public Employees contends in its submission to the government taskforce reviewing pay equity.
The time for consultation is over. It s time for action on this issue, says Heather Inglis, pay equity coordinator with CUPE BC.
This taskforce was mandated to look only at pay equity in the private sector, and we believe this is an unnecessarily limited view of workplaces in our society today, Inglis continues.
The Campbell government made a major mistake when it repealed pay equity legislation as one of its first acts in office. We need to be moving forward, not backward, in finding ways to achieve pay equity.
This government must make wage equity mandatory because employers will not voluntarily eliminate gender wage discrimination from their business practice, she emphasizes.
Women will have achieved equality when they can continue to upgrade their skills and education, can support businesses by purchasing their products and services and when they can buy the most nutritional food for their families.
Pay equity is the keystone to these changes. As long as employers may legally discriminate against women in the workplace, there is no hope for equality in our society, Inglis concludes.
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Media, please contact Teresa Marshall, CUPE communications 604-291-1940