2008 is the 20th Anniversary of Ontario’s Pay Equity Act. The Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL) and Equal Pay Coalition (EPC) have launched a campaign calling on the McGuinty Liberal government to support and revitalize pay equity enforcement. This includes:

● Immediately increase the minimum wage to $10.00 per hour as a pay equity down payment for vulnerable women workers.

● Fully fund the pay equity adjustments owed to public sector women working across Ontario.

● Fully fund the Pay equity Commission, the Hearings Tribunal and legal support services for women workers.

The Coalition has launched a new website http://www.equalpaycoalition.org with background information on pay equity, legal decisions and campaign activities.  We have developed a series of postcards and have over 5,000 signed cards.  We will plan media events to present the cards to Premier McGuinty.

Equal Pay Coalition member organizations have been posting the poster/flyer on their websites and circulating to members, encouraging everyone to sign the online petition.  These activities will be carried out until International Women’s Day.  We will keep you informed on campaign actions following March 8.

Activities Surrounding Family Day

The OFL and other EPC members have circulated the EPC Family Day poster across the province and urged activists to hold events at key transportation hubs in their communities by distributing the flyer.

Media

A Media Release will be issued late Wednesday, February 13, 2008 advising about the Coalition’s activities surrounding Family Day and leading up to March 8, International Women’s Day.  Mary Cornish, EPC Chair person, has written an Op Ed article for local newspaper.

International Women’s Day – March 8

Equal Pay for Work of Equal Value is one of the three themes for this day.  We will be issuing a new poster/flyer which will have three generations of women in the picture - daughters, mothers and grandmothers with a line - Support Pay Equity for All Women - Everyone Benefits. The flyer will look similar to the Family Day flyer except the text will change to focus on the discrimination against women of all generations and the further pay inequalities experienced by racialized women, women with disabilities and Aboriginal Women.  We are also arranging to get a banner made for Coalition members to carry in the Toronto parade and for the Labour Day activities. We will also arrange for supporters to wear the 50 T-shirts we have had printed during the IWD parade and events.  We will also arrange to bring to the IWD parade our “strung” campaign postcards. OSSTF has agreed to do a French translation of our IWD poster/flyer.

The Canadian Labour Congress is coordinating pay equity teach-in across the country. We will incorporate Ontario campaign materials.

Labour Day Event – September 1, 2008

Labour Day Events will include a pay equity focus.  Labour Day marks 71% of the way through the year and with the wage gap we would argue after these women are not paid.  We will work with the labour councils and develop materials.

Workplace Thursday Events

We will be developing materials to assist in workplace discussions during lunch break on Thursdays which is approximately 71% through the work week and marking the fact that thereafter women are not paid whereas men doing comparable work are.

This could include developing lunch and learn educational templates for workers to use, and other workplace ideas to bring attention in workplaces to the reality of the issue that women are paid less than men in Ontario workplaces. 

Pay Equity Report Card and Action Checklists

The Coalition is preparing a report card on the implementation of pay equity in Ontario over the last 20 years identifying the current gaps in pay equity implementation in the various sectors of the economy.  The report card will review what steps are needed to be taken to meet pay equality obligations to reduce those pay gaps. This would start with the Legislature and political parties, the government, including Ministers and policy analysts, employers, unions, professional organizations, the media etc.  It would include checklists for action for each organization. It would be a very useful organizing tool.

Meeting with Elected Leaders

Letters have been sent to schedule meetings with the new Minister of Labour, Minister of Finance, Minister Responsible for Women’s Issues and with the Opposition leaders and the parties’ women’s caucuses.