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The Effects Of Restructuring On Pay Equity

Since the 1970s there have been an increasing number of women entering the public sector. This has meant that the government has had to respond to growing female concerns about their position in the civil service. However, the participation of women has not always resulted in equal treatment. Many complaints raised by women's group's concern wage differentials between males and females. The concern is that women are making less than men for work which is equal in value.

Since the 1980s provincial governments have taken action to reduce this disparity with strategies like "equal pay for work of equal value." In Ontario the NDP government introduced the Ontario Pay Equity Act in 1987, which applied to public and private sector workers. This strategy compares the value of conventional women's work to conventional men's work . The objective is that if women's work is comparable, then it should be of equal pay.
Gains have been made by female public sector workers as a result of "equal pay for work of equal value". This has not come easily as many pay equity disputes were fought in courts. At other times, pay equity has actually increased the difference among women's workers. It has sometimes left several women benefiting more than others.
Although the intent of the legislation was praised, it became increasingly difficult to implement during changing political and economic times. The election of the Harris government would dramatically amend the Ontario Pay Equity Act of 1987. His Conservative government would focus on restructuring the public sector during his ‘Common Sense Revolution' .
This paper will focus on the period which the Ontario Pay Equity Act was implemented. This will be followed by the dismantling of the Act by during the 1990s. I will argue that the restructuring of the healthcare sector has had a negative impact on pay equity initiatives in Ontario. This has effectively delayed the implementation of pay equity initiatives for healthcare...