April 4, 2024 is Equal Pay Day in Manitoba

The following is the press release and speaking notes from a new coalition acknowledging Equal Pay Day in Manitoba, featuring Jan Simpson, National President of CUPW, Kevin Rebeck, President of the Manitoba Federation of Labour and Molly McCracken, CCPA Manitoba Director. 

Equal Pay Coalition Manitoba calls on government to help close the gender pay gap.

Winnipeg – 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 have earned as much as the average man did in the previous calendar year. On average, women in Manitoba have to work for 460 days to earn the same amount as men do in 365 days. This means women have to work an extra three months just to catch up to men.

Women in Manitoba earn 71 cents for every dollar men earn, according to census data presented in a recent Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives Manitoba Report, Tired of Waiting: Rectifying Manitoba’s Pay Gap. The pay gap is worse for women who face additional forms of discrimination, such as colonialism, racism and discrimination against persons with disabilities. In Manitoba, the pay gap is especially severe for Indigenous women as well as for black women and women of colour – 58 and 59 cents, respectively.

Women continue to face significant barriers to achieving economic equality, including gender-based discrimination in hiring, promotion and pay. While women tend to have higher levels of education than men, they still earn less. There’s also a significant gender pay gap across all types of occupations and industries, as well as all age groups and income levels.

“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,” said Molly McCracken on behalf of the coalition. “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 and racialized workers.”

McCracken added that women’s unequal earnings are a major driver of Manitoba’s last place ranking among all provinces when it comes to gender equality, according to the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives in a report using a 17-indicator Gender Gap Index, Still in Recovery: Assessing the Pandemic’s Impact on Women.

“Unions have heard loud and clear that women are done waiting for economic equality,” said coalition member Kevin Rebeck. “Pay discrimination is a violation of women’s human rights, and we need the government to take bold action to eliminate the gender pay gap.”

Rebeck added that closing the gender pay gap will require the provincial government to introduce strong legislation on pay equity to put into effect the principle of equal pay for work of equal value. While Manitoba was the first province to bring in pay equity legislation in 1986 under former Deputy Premier, Muriel Smith, this law has not been substantively updated in decades and excludes private sector employers.

According to a recent poll conducted by Probe Research, 78% per cent of Manitobans support tougher pay equity laws to make sure women are paid the same as men for work of equal value.

New pay equity legislation should be part of a comprehensive plan to close the gender pay gap, along with affordable and accessible childcare, raising the minimum wage to a living wage level, expanded education and training opportunities, and measures to put an end to harassment and violence in the workplace.

The gender pay gap is not solely a binary issue between women and men, but current government data sources are deficient in information about two spirit, gender diverse and non-binary people. The coalition urges data collection agencies to reframe their questions to be gender inclusive.

Jan Simpson, National President of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW), speech at the First Equal Pay Day in Manitoba, April 4, 2024. 

I would like to respectfully acknowledge our presence on Treaty One Territory, the original lands of the Anishinaabeg, Cree, Oji-Cree, Dakota and Dene Peoples and on the homeland of the Red River Métis Nation. 

I would like to congratulate all Manitobans on their first Equal Pay Day – a day which we hope will not only focus public attention on pay equity but mean that women will actually get paid equally for work of equal value. This will improve life – for the better – for women, especially those who face additional forms of discrimination, including racism and discrimination against persons with disabilities. The gender pay gap is a major contributor to women’s poverty. 

This year marks a special anniversary for CUPW: It’s been 20 years since thousands of mostly female RSMCs – Rural and Suburban Mail Carriers (RSMC) – became Canada Post employees, represented by CUPW. (In Manitoba alone, there are 263 RSMCS) 

This came after many years of CUPW organizing and supporting them in their struggle to shed the status of independent contractors without basic rights – much like the gig workers of today. – Since they formally gained collective bargaining rights, the pay and benefits – like sick and maternity leave and holiday pay – for thousands of mostly female workers has only gotten better. 

But pay equity – equal pay for work of equal value – was a further struggle. Many women still earned at least 25% less than their male counterparts – for doing the SAME work. 

One Labour Studies expert even said that these workers had helped to subsidize Canada Post’s profits – for decades. * 

In 2016, CUPW negotiated an expedited  pay equity process for RSMCs, instead of relying on the process established by the Pay Equity Act – which can take decades. 

In 2018, after MANY rounds of negotiations, the fight for women’s rights scored a victory when their pay equity case went before Arbitrator Maureen Flynn. She put a figure on their pay gap: half a billion dollars. This would result in retroactive and increased pay for RSMCs. 

Due to a lot of hard work and determination, CUPW achieved this result in a fraction of the time that it has taken other equity-seeking groups. We achieved this before the federal government’s new proactive pay equity legislation became law. 

Many female RSMCs have told me personally how this victory has literally transformed their lives – they’ve been able to leave abusive relationships, stand on their own two feet, take care of their families; others can now retire with benefits and in dignity. 

Overall, the gap is significantly less for unionized women. CUPW is proud to be part of the solution on the gender pay gap.

* CBC article: A question of fairness’: Clock runs out for Canada Post, union to reach pay equity agreement Aug 30, 2018 – “It seems like Canada Post’s profitability is based on gender-discrimination against women that they employ. Women workers and rural workers in this case basically have been subsidizing Canada Post’s profits for decades and it’s a question of fairness” – Stephanie Ross, associate professor in the School of Labour Studies at McMaster University

Kevin Rebeck, President, Manitoba Federation of Labour speaking notes at the First Equal Pay Day in Manitoba, April 4, 2024 

I am thankful to be here today on Equal Pay Day to talk about the urgent need to close the gender pay gap. This is an important issue for Manitoba’s unions, and pay equity has something that our movement has be focusing on for decades.

It’s 2024, but Women in Manitoba still only earn 71 cents for every dollar men earn. That’s just unacceptable.

Pay discrimination is a violation of women’s human rights, and we need the government to take bold action to eliminate the gender pay gap.

Our province was a leader during the 1980s in introducing pay equity legislation for the public sector, thanks in large part to the efforts of then-deputy premier Muriel Smith. But that law has not been updated in nearly 40 years – and it still excludes private sector employers.

It is time for the new government to take bold action and introduce stronger laws that ensure pay equity in both the public and private sector to help close the gender pay gap and enhance gender equity in Manitoba.

Closing the gender pay gap is something that Manitobans want to see this government take action on.

The Manitoba Federation of Labour recently commissioned polling with Probe Research that shows 78 per cent of Manitobans support tougher pay equity laws to make sure women are paid the same as men for work of equal value. 

But we know that more needs to be done to help close the gender pay gap. New pay equity legislation should be part of a comprehensive five point plan that includes :

Creating thousands of new affordable and accessible child care spaces. Working parents know how difficult finding an affordable child care space is, and too often women see their work and educational opportunities impacted by a lack of affordable child care.

That needs to include ensuring proper training and fair pay for early childhood educators with sustainable funding for these important careers to recruit and retain workers.

We also need to raise the minimum wage to a living wage level. According to Statistics Canada data, almost 60 per cent of minimum wage earners are women, meaning that having a poverty level minimum wage impacts women more than men and adds to Manitoba’s shameful child poverty levels.

And we cannot close the gender pay gap without expanded education and training opportunities for women, and we need stronger measures that put an end to harassment and violence in the workplace.

Pay equity is long past due.

With a new government on Broadway, Manitoba’s unions are hopeful that this issue with be taken seriously by provincial decision makers and that our province will once again become a leader on closing the gender pay gap.