Group gets $335,000 federal grant to study pay for caregivers
The minister for the status of woman was in Moncton on Tuesday to announce a grant of $335,000 for the New Brunswick Coalition for Pay Equity to address low wages being paid to women who work as caregivers in the private sector.
The New Brunswick Coalition for Pay Equity advocates education and legislation that would create the groundwork for implementing pay equity in both public and private sectors.
At the funding announcement, the group's executive director, Johanne Perron, said the money will go toward education and studies.
"We want the population to understand the value of caregiving work, we want the caregivers to understand what is pay equity so they can use pay equity justifications to get better wages and we also want to do job evaluations."
Perron said caregivers are often overlooked, because too many people see the work as a continuation of work historically done by women in the home, for free.
"Right now these women are not being paid fairly when you compare the value of their work with the value of jobs that are mostly done by men," she said.
She said caregivers are paid between $12 and $15 an hour, a wage she calls "insufficient" for the work done.
Maryam Monsef, the minister of the status of women, said the money is going toward the project proposed by the group, rather than straight into an increase of caregiver wages because the government wants to address system barriers.
"The solutions that we are looking for at status of women and the federal government are solutions that take into account the systemic barriers that prevent people, whether it's employees or employers, from reaching their full potential," Monsef said.
"Barriers can include the viewing of work done by woman, and that's not a problem that goes away by throwing money at it."
The announcement was made at the Autumn Lee Retirement Home, where Martha Demmons has lived for three years. She would like to see wages increased for the people who work there.
"It's very important ... of course, it should be to everybody."
Perron said her group relies heavily on the work of volunteers, but this grant will help to ensure more work is paid for.
"You do need some real, hard money sometimes to get things moving to ensure people can talk to each other, meet each other and do the work."
