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Government using economic crisis as an excuse to attack pay equity. Women must confront Ottawa's anti-equality agenda Dateline: Tuesday, March 03, 2009 By Barbara Byers International Women's Day will be observed in more than 40 countries on March 8th. Lately, women in Canada have had little to celebrate. The economic crisis is in full swing and women workers are bracing for the worst economic turmoil in decades, without the support they need to weather the storm. www.straightgoods.ca/2009/ViewFeature.cfm http://www.straightgoods.ca/2009/ViewFeature.cfm?Ref=130 Dateline: Tuesday, March 03, 2009 by Barbara Byers
In the past several years we have witnessed a series of attacks on women by a federal government that has placed equality at the bottom of its list of priorities. The recent budget didn't just leave women out — it was carefully crafted to deliberately attack and undermine our equality. If this is any reflection of what we have to look forward to, women are in big trouble. The government has tabled legislation that will radically change the rules governing pay equity in the federal public sector. The Public Sector Equitable Compensation Act — included as part of the omnibus Budget Implementation Act — will remove the right of public sector workers to file complaints for pay equity with the Canadian Human Rights Commission. The legislation will also impose a $50,000 fine on any union that encourages or assists their own members in filing a pay equity complaint, leaving women to fight the system on their own. Since no individual can afford such legal or political action, this will clearly be a mockery of justice. This situation is completely unacceptable. Forcing workers to bargain for their human rights is not an appropriate way to ensure women's right to equal pay for work of equal value. Under proactive pay equity laws, disagreements are settled by an independent expert agency, but even that option will be lost when the government's budget legislation passes. And, what happens under this plan to those workers who are not unionized? Under the current problem-ridden system, at least non-union workers have the right to pay equity. The government has done nothing so far to change the fact that six out of 10 unemployed women can't get EI benefits. In theory, the budget extends benefits by five weeks. The problem is that women's work continues to be concentrated in part-time, casual and temporary jobs. Extending the length of benefits doesn't help those who pay into the insurance plan but can't access it when they need it. Unless EI eligibility requirements are changed, women and other vulnerable workers will bear the brunt of economic hard times with no safety net. Women in the workforce need childcare, yet our demand for a national, affordable and accessible childcare has fallen on deaf ears. In the coming months, childcare programs across the country will be closing as federal money runs out. A 2004 OECD study ranked Canada last among developed nations for access to early learning and childcare, and we are poised to fall even further behind. Nor will the tax cuts announced in the budget be of much use to women. Fully 40 percent of women who file tax returns pay no taxes because their incomes are too low. Women have an average annual income of $27,000 a year — compared to men's $45,000 — so tax reductions in the higher tax brackets are of no help. Barbara Byers is Executive Vice-President of the Canadian Labour Congress. |