Radio campaign calls out Wynne for widening gender wage gap

TORONTO, March 7, 2016 /CNW/ - The Ontario Public Service Employees Union has launched a two-week radio ad campaign to raise awareness of how the Wynne government is widening the wage gap between men and women.

The campaign is timed to coincide with International Women's Day on March 8.

"Premier Kathleen Wynne continually claims she wants to reduce the gender wage gap in Ontario, but her austerity program is driving the gap wider," said Warren (Smokey) Thomas, OPSEU President. "She's doing that by driving down real wages in the most female sector of the whole economy – the public sector. That's the story our ads tell."

Thomas says more than half a million Ontario women have seen real wage cuts since the Liberal austerity program began in 2010.

"If Kathleen Wynne is actually serious about narrowing the wage gap, she has to stop the cuts," he said. "And she must acknowledge her government's human rights obligations under the Pay Equity Act. Instead, the Liberals have stopped funding pay equity for hundreds of public agencies."

Billions of dollars cut from public services are being funneled into the private construction sector as part of the Liberals' $130-billion infrastructure plan, Thomas noted.

"This is a female-to-male wealth transfer funded entirely by public dollars," he said. "I'm all in favour of putting money in working men's wallets – I've got five sons of my own – but it can't come out of working women's pocket books." 

SOURCE Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU)

Audio with caption: "Radio campaign calls out Wynne for widening gender wage gap". Audio available at: http://stream1.newswire.ca/media/2016/03/07/20160307_C3923_AUDIO_EN_635731.mp3

Audio with caption: "Radio campaign calls out Wynne for widening gender wage gap". Audio available at: http://stream1.newswire.ca/media/2016/03/07/20160307_C3923_AUDIO_EN_635733.mp3

Warren (Smokey) Thomas, [phone]