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Honourable Iain Rankin
Office of the Premier
P.O. Box 726
Halifax, NS
B3J 2T3
Via email @email
April 7, 2021
Dear Premier Rankin,
In Nova Scotia, the majority of women are left out of coverage by the Nova Scotia Pay Equity Act. Even those in the public sector who are covered do not have a proactive right to maintenance. This is unacceptable at any time but during the pandemic, the deepened inequality has made addressing the gender pay gap an imperative.
As the Atlantic Regional Director for Unifor, I’ve seen first hand the need to build back better and to address gender inequality and I believe that Nova Scotia can lead the way.
Everyone deserves to be paid fairly for the value of their work, whether their job is done mainly by women, or mainly by men. It is clear that our province will not recover from the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic until women in Nova Scotia recover from the devastating impact that the pandemic has had on their livelihoods. Addressing the gender pay gap is a necessary and important step your government can take to lead our province into a pandemic recovery.
I urge the Nova Scotia government to take swift steps to introduce proactive pay equity legislation covering workers in the private sector. This is one effective tool to address the gender pay gap that is being worsened by this pandemic. The value of women’s work has been highlighted over the last year underscoring that without women’s work, our economy does not work.
Sincerely,
Linda MacNeil
Unifor Atlantic Regional Director
