UPDATED August 28, 2008
2008 Labour Day Message from the PEI Federation of Labour
As
another Labour Day approaches, it is once again time for the PEI
Federation of Labour to not only celebrate all accomplishments over the
years to improve wages, pensions, workplace safety and general living
standards of all workers on PEI by the labour movement but also to
recommit ourselves to fighting battles not yet won.
“Contrary to
what the Harper Government would have you believe, one of these battles
is the battle for Women’s Equality,” states Lori MacKay, Vice President
for Women’s issues PEIFL.
The steps the Harper Government has
taken against Women’s Equality since it has come into power are
reprehensible. Some of these steps include:
- cancelling the Federal-Provincial Child Care Agreements;
- cutting
funding to the Status of Women Canada and removing equality from their
mandate which in turn has removed funding for many groups that do
research and advocate for women’s equality;
- eliminating funding to the Court Challenges Program;
- refusing to implement the Federal Pay Equity Task Force recommendation to introduce a proactive Pay Equity Law
These
are a few of the ways the federal government has shown how little
commitment they have to the issue of Women’s Equality and how little
respect they have for 51% of this Country’s citizens.
Since its
launch on International Women’s Day this year, the PEI Federation of
Labour has been involved with the CLC’s year-long Women’s Economic
Equality Campaign through a launch press conference, teach-ins, an
educational campaign and a recent picnic at Victoria Park to launch the
CLC’s Report Card on Childcare.
The PEI Federation of Labour feels the issue of winning the battle for Women’s Equality is of the utmost importance.
On
PEI, according to the recently released 2006 census, women working
full-time, full year earned 11.3% less than their male counterparts in
2005 (female $31,956 - male $36,034). It gets worse when you
compare median incomes for all Islanders; in this case women on PEI
earned a median income of $19,027 in 2005 or 29% less than Island males
who earned a median income of $26,627.
In other studies, it was
found that of the 15,000 workers on PEI making less that $10/hr in 2006
- 9,500 or 63.3% were women while 5,500 or 36.7% were men.
Another study released in 2007 found there is a significant gender gap
when it comes to EI. On PEI, only 70% of unemployed female
workers collected EI compared to 83% of unemployed male workers in
2004. The main reason for the growing gender gap cited in the
study was the differences between women’s patterns of paid employment
and participation in the paid workforce and men’s patterns were not
recognized when the EI changes were made.
“On this Labour Day
there are many accomplishments for women on PEI to celebrate and be
proud of. Women on PEI have taken many positive steps forward
toward winning the battle for Equality despite the many obstacles put
in their way; however, there are still many issues that need to be
dealt with before Equality can truly be accomplished,” concludes Ms.
MacKay.
Some of the battles still left to win include:
- creation
of a universal, high quality, public funded, accessible child care
program that truly meets the needs of
Canadian families;
- establishment
of a $10/hr minimum wage here on PEI (we hope the Ghiz Government will
follow the lead of Ontario, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Nunavut
Governments in this area);
- establishment of effective Pay Equity Laws;
- EI Reform to create a fairer system that meets the needs of all unemployed workers;
- the need to improve and increase measures to end violence against women;
- removal
of barriers to allow qualified female candidates a level playing field
when seeking to become an elected member of various levels of
government;
- the need for Governments to put in place better labour laws to make it easier to join an union;
Finally,
the PEI Federation of labour would like to invite all Islanders to
celebrate Labour Day with us at our 8th Annual Picnic on Monday,
September 1st between 4:00 - 6:00 PM at Victoria Park,
Charlottetown. There will be hot dogs, corn, games, prizes and
musical entertainment provided by Jon Rheder. (Unfortunately, due to
rain this year's picnic was cancelled)
CLC's Women's Economic Equality Campaign
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