The Peterborough Examiner

Union leaders say Liberals’ pay equity law will close ‘shameful’ gap

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OTTAWA — Union presidents say they have fought for pay-equity legislatio­n for decades and welcome a new law from the federal Liberals that’s supposed to close Canada’s “shameful” gender gap.

Public Service Alliance of Canada president Chris Aylward says the legislatio­n introduced earlier this week has been a long time coming: His organizati­on first filed pay-equity complaints against the federal government in the 1970s.

Under the proposed legislatio­n, employers would need to examine their compensati­on practices and ensure that women and men in workplaces that fall under federal jurisdicti­on receive equal pay for work of equal value.

Employers would be required to identify job classes, evaluate the work in each, and compare compensati­on associated with similar jobs dominated by men and women respective­ly.

Jobs that might be under close scrutiny because many of the people who do them are women include clerical and administra­tive jobs, marketing, sales and services.

Also bank tellers, financials­ales representa­tives and accounting clerks.

Hassan Yussuff, the president of the Canadian Labour Congress, says discrimina­tion against women in the workforce happens more frequently than is usually acknowledg­ed.

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