Equal Pay Day: OFL says pay equity can’t wait another year

/EIN News/ -- TORONTO, April 10, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- On Equal Pay Day, the Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL) joined the Equal Pay Coalition and the Workers’ Action Centre to demand urgent action after nearly 50 years of stalled progress on closing the gender pay gap.

“Fifty years in, and we’ve barely moved the needle,” said OFL President Laura Walton. “This isn’t an accident, it’s a system designed to undervalue women’s work.”

Walton pointed to Ontario’s Bill 124, which capped wages in public sectors like education, health care, and long-term care – sectors staffed primarily by women, while exempting male-dominated fields. “It’s a clear example of how policy punishes women for doing the work our communities rely on.”

She added: “While governments talk trade and profits in the middle of a trade war, they ignore the impacts on the care economy where work is done overwhelmingly by women and consistently underpaid.”

Fay Faraday, co-chair of the Equal Pay Coalition, warned:
“Only 26% of women are eligible for regular EI benefits,” said Faraday. “Leaders need to ensure the EI system protects all women in this economic disruption.”

Deena Ladd, Executive Director of the Workers’ Action Centre, emphasized the need for urgent reform:

“The fact that we still have a gendered and racialized wage gap should be a wake-up call for our political decision makers. We need to fix labour laws that allow this systemic discrimination to continue, and they need to step up with real income support in the face of the economic crisis that is coming at us.”

Speakers called on all levels of government to stop sidelining gender equity.

The OFL urged voters to press federal candidates on pay equity at the doors this election. “Fifty years of delay is not progress, it’s neglect.”

Media Contact:

Jenny Sellathurai
Director of Communications
Ontario Federation of Labour
jsellathurai@ofl.ca | 416-894-3456

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