Equal Pay Day

Equal Pay Day is not just a reminder of systemic discrimination against women across the globe, but a day for action. ✊🏽 OSSTF/FEESO Vice-President and President-Elect Martha Hradowy shares a message to all today:

“Equal pay for equal work should NOT be up for debate. We owe it to our daughters, our students, future generations—and ourselves—to demand change now.”

Each year, the Equal Pay Coalition (EPC) designates a day that represents the amount of extra time the average woman must work to catch up to what the average man earned in the previous year. This year, the designated Equal Pay Day (EPD) in Ontario is Thursday, April 10th, symbolizing the fact that a woman will work 15.5 months to earn pay equal to a man’s annual salary. Although pay equity is the law in Ontario, women continue to earn almost 30% less than men on average. This pay gap affects women of all ages and education levels. Black and racialized women, Indigenous women, 2SLGBTQIA+ women, and women living with disabilities face the greatest wage disparity.

The EPC is comprised of dozens of unions, women’s groups and community organizations seeking to end gender pay discrimination and close the gender pay gap through legislation, collective bargaining, and social initiatives. OSSTF/FEESO is a member of the EPC and, as part of this coalition, we continue to urge the Ontario government to make meaningful changes to pay equity legislation and to remove other systemic gender barriers that lead to the wage gap.

Please see equalpaycoalition.org for more resources and information.