Equal Pay Coalition Calls for End of Violation of UN pay Equity

Equal Pay Coalition calls on Premier McGuinty to end Ontario’s violation of United Nations Pay Equity standards or face UN complaint

Attention: Assignment Editor, Business/Financial Editor, Media Editor, News Editor, Government/Political Affairs Editor

Toronto, Ontario –(Dec. 10, 2008) – December 10th marks the 60th Anniversary of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights – a time to reflect on the human rights violations which continue to exist and need urgent attention. The Equal Pay Coalition’s open letter calls on Premier Dalton McGuinty to fulfill his human rights duties by taking immediate, short term and long term steps towards closing Ontario`s 29% Gender Pay Gap or face a Coalition complaint to the United Nations for non-compliance with the UN`s pay equity standards. (See Text of Open Letter to the Premier at www.equalpaycoalition.org and video statement of Mary Cornish uploaded on Coalition website and on Youtube.)Much of the 29% pay gap results from the province wide discriminatory undervaluation of women`s work and discriminatory labour market barriers. Mary Cornish, Chair of the Equal Pay Coalition states: “With a person’s pay, particularly in this fiscal crisis, critical to family, community and provincial prosperity this pay gap is a massive human rights violation.”

Cornish further states: “The Government’s failure to take effective steps to close the gender pay gap violates Article 23 of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights which commits world governments to ensure the right of women to be free from pay discrimination.” It also violates many other subsequent UN and ILO standards, agreed to by Canada which require governments to make securing freedom from pay discrimination a matter of the highest priority. As the 2004 Federal Pay Equity Review Task Force Report notes:”Violations of these standards expose Canada to the sanctions available to the bodies, such as the United Nations, which represent the international community.”

Ontario’s Poverty Reduction Strategy released last week which focuses on child poverty “fails to recognize and target the systemic gender, racial and other discrimination which must be rooted out to make poverty history.” say Cornish. “Children are poor because women are poor. Women are poor often because their human rights are being violated.

“The fiscal crisis is no excuse for inaction but rather makes urgent action essential. “When you scramble every month to make ends meet, losing almost a quarter for every dollar a man is paid is devastating to a family budget.” says Cornish. Failing to take action “reinforces the prejudices which undervalue women’s work and undermines the struggle of women for equality in all areas of their lives.

“The Coalition’s repeated efforts to engage in dialogue with the Government over the last year – the 20th Anniversary of the Pay Equity Act have led to no action by the Government. The Coalition’s November, 2008 Framework for Action on Pay Equity delivered directly to the Premier and all his Ministers sets out the immediate steps which must be taken and further steps to mainstream pay equity compliance into Ontario’s economic life. The Coalition calls on the Premier to provide human rights and economic leadership by preparing a province-wide Closing the Global Gender Pay Gap Plan which will set realistic and timely goals for ending Ontario’s pay discrimination.

Cornish notes: “In the end, preventing and remedying pay discrimination is a matter of values – ensuring that hard work is honoured and rewarded in Ontario regardless of the sex of person who performs it.”

The Equal Pay Coalition was formed in 1976. Its call for urgent action is backed by its broad-based membership of trade unions, community and social justice organizations, and business and professional women’s organizations who represent over one million Ontarians. See www.equalpaycoalition.org for a list of our members and further background information.

Background Information

Summary of the Coalition’s Framework for Actions Steps – see Appendix A to the Coalition’s Open Letter to the Premier
Summary of International Pay Equity Standards – see Appendix B to the Coalition’s Open Letter to the Premier

Key Pay Gap Statistics According to Statistics Canada · racial minority women earn 36% less than men;
· Aboriginal women earn 54% less.
· Women with disabilities earn significantly less than women and men without disabilities.
· Women outnumber men in nine of the ten lowest-paying occupations in Canada.
· Young women graduating from high school earn 27% less than male high school graduates. Young women graduating from university earn 16% less than male graduates but this pay gap widens as their careers progress.
· 42% of elderly women are poor
· The median income of retired women is almost half that of older men.

/For further information: Mary Cornish
Chair
Equal Pay Coalition
416.576.3851 (cellular)/

IN: INTERNATIONAL, JUSTICE, LABOUR, MEDIA, POLITICS

For more information, please contact

Mary Cornish, Chair, Equal Pay Coalition
Primary Phone: 416-964-5524
E-mail: mcornish@cavalluzo.com