EMERGENCY NEWS CONFERENCE: Ontario's Bill 106 Overrides Women's Pay Equity Rights just before Equal Pay Day
TORONTO, April 06, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Equal Pay Coalition will hold an emergency news conference on Thursday, April 7 at 9:30am at Queen's Park Media Studio to address Bill 106, an omnibus bill being rushed through the legislature that overrides public sector workers' pay equity and collective bargaining rights.
| SPEAKERS: | Patty Coates, Ontario Federation of Labour President | |
| Cathryn Hoy, Ontario Nurses' Association President | ||
| Fay Faraday and Jan Borowy, Equal Pay Coalition Co-Chairs |
"It is incredible that less than a week before Equal Pay Day, the government is rushing an unconstitutional bill through the legislature to override women's pay equity and collective bargaining rights," says Equal Pay Coalition Co-Chair Fay Faraday. "Bill 106 overturns hard-won Supreme Court victories and doubles down on Bill 124, attacking the rights of women in health and social services who continue to carry us through the pandemic."
In a new Environics Research poll commissioned by the Coalition, 85% of Ontarians said it is important that the provincial government do more to promote women's economic equality. When asked about policy solutions, 88% said decent wages for women working in publicly funded care work and community and social services were important, with 60% saying "very important."
"Ontario voters care about women's economic equality," says Jan Borowy, Equal Pay Coalition Co-Chair. "They want to see strong policies that support women's ability to access decent work, not stealth attempts to undermine their labour rights."
To mark Equal Pay Day on April 12, 2022, the Equal Pay Coalition is hosting a Party Leaders Debate on Women's Economic Equality. Provincial party leaders Andrea Horwath, Steven Del Duca, and Mike Schreiner will attend. Premier Ford's office says he has a "scheduling conflict". The debate held live at Innis Town Hall at the University of Toronto will be live streamed from 7pm?9pm across multiple video-streaming platforms.
Meanwhile, if Bill 106 proceeds unamended, its 3rd reading will also be held on Equal Pay Day. For more information on the emergency news conference, or to arrange interviews, please contact: Fay Faraday, 416-389-4399 or Jan Borowy, 416-985-2069.
About the Equal Pay Coalition: Since 1976, the non-partisan Equal Pay Coalition has been the main advocate for women's pay equity in Ontario that unites more than 40 women's groups, trade unions, community groups and business organizations representing hundreds of thousands of women in Ontario.
About Equal Pay Day: Equal Pay Day is dedicated to raising awareness of the gender pay gap. It symbolizes how far into the year the average woman must work in order to have earned what the average man had earned the entire previous year. In Canada, Equal Pay Day is April 12, 2022.
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