N.B. private sector needs pay equity law: NDP

New Brunswick's New Democratic Party is demanding pay equity legislation covering the private sector, Leader Roger Duguay announced on Monday.

Duguay used a campaign stop in Bathurst on Labour Day to criticize the Liberals and Progressive Conservatives for stalling progress on private sector pay equity in the last five years.

Duguay said his party supports a pay equity act that would require businesses with more than 10 employees to put in place a pay equity plan within four years.

Businesses would be blocked from dropping wages to achieve pay equity under the NDP plan.

The pay equity law would also be monitored and enforced by a pay equity commission.

"New Democrats are committed to building a richer, fairer New Brunswick for middle-class families, and a pay equity act like Quebec's would be great step toward that goal," Duguay said in a statement.

The New Democrats have not had a seat in the legislature since their former leader Elizabeth Weir retired in 2004. New Brunswick voters are heading to the polls on Sept. 27.

The latest public opinion polls show a tight two-way race between Shawn Graham's Liberals and David Alward's Progressive Conservatives. The NDP is in third place, ahead of two minor parties, the Green party and the People's Alliance of New Brunswick.

Voluntary approach not working: Duguay

Duguay said the voluntary approach to pay equity that has been pursued by the previous Liberal and Progressive Conservative governments have not worked and should be replaced.

In 2005, the provincial government gave the private sector five years to introduce pay equity on a voluntary basis. That deadline passed in June.

The Coalition for Pay Equity released a statement in April saying that little movement has been made in the last five years.

And a few weeks before the election campaign started, the coalition and seven other women's groups and other organizations pushed for the need of a private sector pay equity law.

The NDP said pay equity legislation would "lead to a modest increase" in the money coming into the provincial coffers because it would lead to more personal income tax revenue.

According to the NDP, 10 years after the Quebec pay equity law was introduced, 28 per cent of employees in female dominated job classes received raises and the average raise was 6.5 per cent. The average increase in wage costs to employers was a very affordable 1.5 per cent, according to the New Brunswick NDP.