Online petition urges Newfoundland
to honour Pay Equity Settlement
with 6,000 provincial health care workers

 

St. John's - The National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) and the Newfoundland and Labrador Association of Public and Private Employees (NAPE) are mobilizing forces to lobby for long-overdue pay equity settlements that the province owes to 6,000 health care workers. The two unions have intentionally picked March 8, International Women's Day, to launch the campaign.

“This is a matter of human rights,” says Sheila Beaton, NAPE general vice-president and member of NUPGE's National Advisory Committee on Women's Issues.

“Discriminatory actions should never be justified for monetary reasons and these women are entitled to receive equal pay for work of equal value. With all this new money the government of Newfoundland and Labrador can no longer plead poor,” she said.

Makers of history

International Women’s Day celebrates women as makers of history through the achievements they make in their ordinary daily lives.

Events marking the occasion are rooted in the centuries-old struggle of women to participate in society on an equal footing with men.

The idea for modern-day observances dates back to the turn of the century. At that time, celebrations were held from country to country at the end of February or beginning of March. Since 1975, March 8 has been recognized globally by the United Nations as International Women's Day.

Today, a central organizing principle of the UN's work is that no enduring solution to society’s most threatening social, economic and political problems can be found without the full participation and full empowerment of women everywhere.

Joint NUPGE-NAPE appeal

For this reason, NUPGE and NAPE are making a joint appeal to Canadians on this International Women's Day to give their support to approximately 6,000 health care workers across Newfoundland and Labrador.

Members are being encouraged to sign an online petition to Premier Danny Williams and his Conservative government demanding that they remit to workers the money due to them.

The government of Newfoundland and Labrador discriminated against NAPE members employed in health care in 1991 when it withheld retroactive pay equity payments.

In October of last year, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that the province was justified in discriminating against the workers because of serious fiscal difficulties.

However, on February 14 of this year the federal government signed a major agreement with the province to provide $2 billion in immediate equalization payments followed by additional payments of $600 million over the next eight years.

The total, $2.6 billion, adds up to almost $5,000 for every man, woman and child in the province, where the population totals just over half a million people.

So when it comes to Premier Williams refusing to honour his government's pay equity obligations, it's no longer a case of "cannot pay," it's a case of "will not pay."

"When Premier Williams announced he had reached a deal with the prime minister, he called it an historic moment for the people of Newfoundland and Labrador," says Marie Bean, chair of the NUPGE committee on women's issues.

"If the government can't fulfill the hopes and answer the needs of working women in a time of massive increases in equalization payments, when will it ever do so?" she asked.

The online petition campaign will spread awareness of the pay equity cause and turn up the pressure on Williams and his government to honour its obligations. NUPGE