Higgs budget improves wages but still far from pay equity

The New Brunswick Coalition for Pay Equity commends the provincial government’s efforts to improve wages in key female-dominated sectors in the 2020-21 budget but maintains that these investments are still far from reaching pay equity.

“Community care workers, such as home care and child care workers, have been underpaid for years and this injustice must be corrected,” says Frances LeBlanc, the Coalition Chair. “We call on the provincial government to commit to increasing these wages over several years and to strive for pay equity.”

The Government also says that it required departments to carry out a gender impact assessment of their budget submissions. The Coalition asks that the results of these assessments be released to the public for greater transparency.

Details

An hourly increase of $0.75 is budgeted for the salaries of trained early childhood educators. The Liberal government’s 2018-2019 budget planned a yearly $0.75 increase, from $16 to $19 an hour in 2023.

The budget allocates $4.2 million for hourly wage increases for workers in the community care-giving sector.

»      $1.50 for workers in ADAPT centers, increasing their hourly wage to an average of $16.25.

»      $1 for workers in community residences, increasing their hourly wage to at least $16.05.

»      $0.50 for home support workers, increasing their hourly wage to $15.30.

Johanne Perron is the Executive Director of the New Brunswick Coalition of Pay Equity.