Winning Equal Pay for Work of Equal Value in Ontario The struggle for a pay equity law in Ontario Women in Ontario alone lost three billion dollars annually in potential wage and salary income due to male-female wage inequalities. The figure for all of Canada was $7 billion. Although there had been commitment to redress this situation in Canada, at least since the 1951 International Labour Office Convention and follow up legislation at the federal and provincial levels, unequal pay still prevailed. Organizations such as the Equal Pay Coalition of Ontario led the way in fighting to obtain legislative change that would enforce not just equal pay for equal work but proactive equal pay for work of equal value. Mary Cornish and Laurell Ritchie, two of the founders of the Equal Pay Coalition of Ontario spoke to Rise Up about the stages of this struggle and the importance of winning the passage of the Pay Equity Act in Ontario in June, 1987. Mary Cornish and Laurell Ritchie interviewed by Sue Colley Transcript Material from the Archive Equal Pay Coalition of OntarioHistoric Victories of the 1980s on Reproductive Rights and Pay EquityBringing Pay Equity to Those Presently ExcludedUAW Submission to the Public Consultation on Pay EquityOntario Federation of Labour Brief to Ontario GovernmentPay Equity – can we make it work?Pay Equity in Ontario: Coalition Politics – Cayenne, Fall 1987 (pg 5)Labour Movement and Women’s EqualityOFL Convention (1985) – Equal Pay for Work of Equal Value Thank you… This project has been made possible in part by Library and Archives Canada’s Documentary Heritage Communities Program.
