Women call on political parties to promise pay equity in private sector

More than a dozen groups from across New Brunswick have joined forces to try to get pay equity into the private sector by 2020.

The campaign is targeting political parties, asking them to make a commitment to requiring pay equity.

The New Brunswick Coalition for Pay Equity, which is overseeing the campaign, organized a meeting Tuesday of union leaders, non-profit professionals and community activists to discuss how to push the goal forward.

Frances LeBlanc, chair of the coalition, told Information Morning Moncton that, with a provincial election coming up in September, supporters feel now is an ideal time to push New Brunswick political parties to include pay equity in their platforms.

Pay equity is defined as equal pay for work of equal value, meaning women in female-dominated jobs would be paid the same as men in male-dominated jobs of the same value, LeBlanc said.

This is different from pay parity, which only addresses the pay of women and men who are in the same jobs.

An evaluation of the work has to be done, LeBlanc said.

"So in jobs that are predominantly female, being paid equivalent to jobs that are predominantly male if they are comparable in terms of skill, responsibilities, and other factors," she said.

New Brunswick has had pay equity legislation for the public sector for close to 10 years.

Majority in private sector

But given that 65 per cent of New Brunswick women are employed in the private sector, the coalition feels legislation needs to be extended to cover them as well, LeBlanc said.

LeBlanc said she she thinks the change is "inevitable" given the increased awareness of gender imbalance issues, but it's just a matter of making sure there are adequate resources for businesses to make the necessary changes.

"It's a matter of making them more robust, and doing a lot of education about how to do those processes, and to really implement modern HR practices," she said.

"We know in the public sector, the work has been done, so there's already a precedent here in New Brunswick."