MONTREAL -- Labour unions and opposition parties are calling on the government to revise to the two-decades-old Pay Equity Act to bring justice to women who have been financially penalized in the province.
At a news conference on Tuesday, spokespeople from trade unions and the three opposition parties demanded that Labour Minister Jean Boulet make corrections to the law. First enacted in 1996, the groups say it still has significant flaws.
For one, they are calling on salary adjustments provided for in the Act be retroactive to 2010.
CSQ President Sonia Éthier argued that before the law came into effect, the average hourly wage gap between men and women was 15.8 per cent and that today, in 2019, it may have improved, but it's still more than 10 per cent.
According to Statistics Canada, in 2018 female employees between the ages of 25 to 54 earned as average of $26.92 per hour -- $4.13 or 13.3 per cent less than the $31.05 in hourly wages for male employees.
Currently, only Quebec businesses with 10 or more employees are required to follow this legislation, but unions and the opposition parties want all employers to be subject to the law.
Only 70 per cent of companies have taken the steps towards pay equity, the groups say.
"There are 30 per cent of companies that have not done anything in Quebec yet, and that is unacceptable," said Éthier.
The report last month says it would take Canada 164 years to close the economic gap between men and women if things keep going the way they are.
- With files from The Canadian Press
