On February 14 th 2005, NAWL and the Pay Equity Network launched our campaign for proactive pay equity legislation at the Famous Five monument on Parliament Hill. The network sent a Valentine’s Day card to every MP and Senator to remind them that Pay Equity is at the Heart of Equality . Over 160 women’s groups, labour unions and community organizations have signed on to this call to action. A press conference was also held in Moncton and our partners in Québec issued a press release.

More than 25 years after the adoption of the Canadian Human Rights Act, women working full-time still earn 71% of men’s salaries, regardless of our age, occupation or education.  The wage gap is even greater for Aboriginal women, racialized women, and new immigrant women.

In response to pressures from organized labour and the women’s movement, the federal government created the Task Force on Pay Equity that submitted its final report in May 2004. This report proposes pro-active, stand-alone, federal pay-equity legislation and expanded coverage of pay equity to Aboriginal peoples, persons with disabilities and visible minorities. Although the Task Force recommendations are good news for women, they have not yet been implemented.

NAWL and partners have formed the Pay Equity Network and will be lobbying the federal government to adopt the Task Force recommendations. We have drafted a backgrounder on the issues and we are mobilizing women’s groups and other equality-seeking organizations to sign a declaration statement.  In this statement, we call for the immediate implementation of the Task Force recommendations.

In the spring of 2005, NAWL will also begin a series of popular legal education workshops around women’s equality in the workforce and the federal pay equity system. Our goal is to share information with women’s organizations about the current pay equity framework, to learn from women’s experiences, and to mobilize different communities to lobby the federal government.

To find out more, and to send a card to your MP, go to NAWL’s site at >http://www.nawl.ca/ns/en/payequity.html