Honourable Andrew Furey
Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador
Confederation Building, East Block
P.O. Box 8700
St-John’s, NL A1B4J6
Via email premier@gov.nl.ca
April 7, 2021
Dear Premier Furey,
It takes the average woman in Canada more than 15 months to make the same as the average man did in 12 months. We know the gap is even wider for women facing multiple and intersecting areas of discrimination. Women with disabilities face a 56% gender pay gap; Immigrant women face a 55% gender pay gap; for Indigenous women it is a 45% gender pay gap; and for racialized women there is a 40% gender pay gap.
These are all figures that the Newfoundland and Labrador government can reduce. As Atlantic Regional Director for Unifor, I urge your government to take action for pay equity.
Despite discussion in support of pay equity, including unanimous passage of a private members bill on introducing pay equity legislation in March 2017, action has not happened.
These missed opportunities not only harm women’s economic security, they deprive all people in Newfoundland and Labrador of the increased prosperity that equal pay brings to the economy and to the province’s tax base.
Everyone deserves to be paid fairly for the value of their work, whether their job is done mainly by women, or mainly by men. It is clear that our province will not recover from the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic until women in Newfoundland and Labrador recover from the devastating impact that the pandemic has had on their livelihoods.
Addressing the gender pay gap is a necessary and important step your government can take to lead NL in a pandemic recovery.
We urge your government to take swift steps to address the gender pay gap that is being worsened by this pandemic. The last year has shone a light on the undervaluing of work done predominantly by women. Without women’s work, our economy does not work.
Sincerely,
Linda MacNeil
Unifor Atlantic Regional Director