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Montreal, Wednesday, September 28, 2001 – This morning, the Canadian Union of Public Employees, a QFL affiliate, took the first step in its campaign to mobilize its members in favour of pay equity. Starting at 7:30 am, under the theme of “Stop the Nonsense!”, CUPE members will demonstrate before the entrance to the Montreal Courthouse, to remind people that today is the day that the superior court will be hearing applications filed by several unions, including CUPE. These hearings will continue today and tomorrow before Judge Carole Julien.

Carole Robertson, the union representative responsible for the pay equity file at CUPE, points out that it is “scandalous to have to use legal recourse to defend women’s right to equal pay for work of equal value, since the equal pay legislation passed in 1997 is supposed ensure this objective!”

By its action this morning, which might be the first of several in the upcoming weeks, CUPE wants to express its anger at the Quebec Government, which, over the past months, even years, has tried to get out of its commitments with respect to equity.

CUPE wants the Quebec Government to assume its obligations in the following ways: 1) by obtaining a real pay equity settlement from Treasury Board; 2) by requesting that the Government mandate universities and crown corporations to implement real pay equity; 3) by naming three new commissioners to the Pay Equity Commission; and, 4) by instructing the Commission to work in accordance with the goal of the legislation, that is, to correct wage differences caused by systemic discrimination based on gender.

With more than 100,000 members in Quebec, CUPE is present in several sectors of activity, among them, health and social services, education, universities, municipalities, crown corporations, and public agencies. It is the largest affiliate of the QFL.

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Source: Canadian Union of Public Employees (QFL)

Information:
Carole Robertson
Robert Bellerose