Dear Sisters, Brothers and Friends,

Today is Equal Pay Day in Manitoba, a day that symbolizes how far into the next year the average woman must work in order to earn as much as the average man did in the previous calendar year.

On average, women in Manitoba have to work for 444 days to earn as much as men do in 365 days. This means women have to work an extra three months just to catch up to men.

The Manitoba Equal Pay Day Coalition held a press conference at the Union Centre today to call attention to the continued impacts of pay discrimination. The gender pay gap means that women continue to fall behind men and it serves as a major factor in our province’s abysmal child poverty rates. While all Manitobans have struggled with the rising costs of groceries and housing over the last few years, but these struggles have been even harder for women workers.

According to Statistics Canada’s Labour Force Survey, Manitoba women now earn 82 cents for every dollar men earn, up slightly from last year’s equivalent finding of 79 cents. While the Labour Force Survey does not include information on race and ethnicity, previous research by the CCPA, “Tired of Waiting: Rectifying Manitoba’s Pay Gap”, has demonstrated that the gender pay gap is approximately 20 percent worse for Indigenous, Black and racialized women, illustrating the compounding effect of discrimination.

Women are done waiting for economic equality. Pay discrimination is a violation of women’s human rights, and we need the federal and provincial government to implement comprehensive strategies to eliminate the genderpay gap. Solving a persistent human rights problem like gender pay inequality requires commitment, planning and bold action to get the job done.

The Equal Pay Day Coalition noted at today’s press conference that we need modern pay equity and transparency legislation to ensure equal pay for work of equal value. The coalition pointed out that while they were the Official Opposition, the Manitoba NDP twice introduced pay transparency legislation as one step to address the gender pay gap, but the bill never passed. Similar legislation has not been introduced by the current NDP government.

A comprehensive strategy to eliminate the gender pay gap must also include:

• Pay fairness for under-valued jobs dominated by women, such as those in the care economy;
• Education, training and employment equity strategies to expand women’s participation in non-traditional jobs;
• Accelerated work to meet Manitoba’s outstanding commitment to 23,000 new affordable child care spaces, which will enable greater labour force participation by women;
• Raising the minimum wage to a living wage level, which will especially benefit women, as they make up the majority of minimum wage earners;
• Ending violence and harassment in the workplace, which disproportionately affects and injures women; and
• Stronger health and public services to lessen women’s disproportionate unpaid care burden

Thank you to the unions and community allies who have signed on to support the Equal Pay Day Coalition:

Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives – Manitoba
Manitoba Federation of Labour
Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1505
Canada Employment & Immigration Union MBSK, PSAC
Canadian Labour Congress
Canadian Union for Public Employees
Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Manitoba
Canadian Union of Postal Workers
Child Care Coalition of Manitoba
International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 435
Manitoba Association of Health Care Professionals
Manitoba Child Care Association
Manitoba Nurses Union
Manitoba Teachers’ Society
Manitoba Federation of Union Retirees
Public Service Alliance of Canada – Prairies
SEED Winnipeg
United Food and Commercial Workers Local 832
United Steelworkers Local 9074
University of Manitoba Faculty Association
Winnipeg Association of Public Service Officers – IFPTE Local 162
Winnipeg Labour Council

In Solidarity,
Anna Rothney
Executive Director, Manitoba Federation of Labour