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Women's
Equality Rights Are Not For Sale!
Women's
Legal Education And Action Fund (LEAF) to Argue at the
Supreme Court of Canada for Women's Right to Equal Pay for Work of
Equal Value
(Toronto - May
11, 2004) On Wednesday, May 12th the
Women's Legal Education and Action Fund (LEAF) will appear
before the Supreme Court of Canada in the case of NAPE (Newfoundland
Association of Public Employees) v. Newfoundland.
At issue in this
case is whether the Newfoundland government's reneging on an agreement
to compensate its female employees for discriminatory wages violates
the equality rights guaranteed to women under the Canadian Charter
of Rights and Freedoms. The question is, can Newfoundland pay women
less than men for work of equal value?
This case affects
5,300 female employees of the Newfoundland government, and has the
potential to set a precedent for female employees across Canada.
LEAF will argue
that the government indeed admitted that it had violated the equality
rights of its female employees when it agreed to compensate them for
the unequal wages they'd been paid in the past. After agreeing to
provide the employees with equal pay, the government then decided
it could not afford to pay the money it owed to the women, so it reneged.
This decision has had devastating consequences.
Pay inequity tells
women and men that women are not worth as much as men. Unequal wages
deprive women of income; contribute to the feminization of poverty;
increase women's financial dependence on men, including in situations
where there's violence and abuse; and reduce women's status as full
citizens in our society. In this case the discrimination suffered
by older women and women on disability pensions was even worse as
their pensions and disability benefits are permanently tied to the
discriminatory wages caused by the government reneging on the agreement.
The government's
position in this case in the lower courts was that it could not afford
to implement the pay equity agreement it reached with NAPE, the union
representing the female employees.
LEAF will argue
that it is always cheaper to discriminate, but that government's budgets
cannot be balanced on the backs of the most disadvantaged in society.
LEAF will argue that the guaranteed equality rights of women must
be respected, and that women's equality rights are not for sale.
Counsel for LEAF
are Karen Schucher and Fiona Sampson. Counsel will be available for
statements following oral arguments at the Supreme Court of Canada,
Ottawa, on Wednesday, May 12th.
Contact:
Fiona Sampson, Counsel (416) 720-7359 or (416) 595-7170 ext.
223
Kate Stephenson, LEAF National Legal Committee, (416) 947-5092
see
also CLC-CTC release dd May 11, 2004
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