Despite a petition on the matter to the National Assembly last May and mobilizations “in all four corners of the province last year,” the government is still turning a deaf ear to this issue, which has dragged on for far too long. Believe the representatives of three unions who mobilized on Saturday as part of a demonstration in front of the offices of the Ministry of Finance in Montreal.

“We shouldn’t be here today. The thousands of women who are on the streets today should be with their families because the government should have solved the issue of equal pay for 12 years,” denounces Sylvie Nelson, president of the Quebec Union of Employees and Employees. Services, on.

“Women are tired, they want to be heard and we won’t let that go,” she continues. “Mr Legault, he should be ashamed to see us on the street to settle a file that dates back twelve years.”

According to unions, nearly 30,000 people are still waiting for their Pay Equity Act grievances to be resolved, an amount that can range from a few thousand to tens of thousands of dollars in some cases.

“Thousands of dollars that the majority of women do not have access to because of the hesitation of the Ministry of Finance, the government and François Legault on the matter,” points out Samuel Sicard, vice president of administrative personnel at the Social Council of the Provincial Council.

The vast majority of affected workers, including administrative staff, management and university teaching assistants, purchasing agents, medical and legal secretaries, are women, many of them single mothers.

“These are women who work for the public sector (…) These are the same women who have independently supported the network.” That’s why I think that out of respect for these women we have to solve this problem quickly, it has dragged on long enough,” notes Ms. Nelson.

“Many of these women are in a precarious financial situation, women for whom we have been waiting for an agreement since 2010,” recalls Carole Duperré, representative of the office staff and administration.

“We know that the current economic situation is currently difficult due to inflation; “So it’s money, a lot of money, that people, including these women, need to catch their breath financially,” she adds.

Ms Nelson “hopes the government will understand common sense and come to terms with women”.

“I think if we were able to pay MP salaries of $30,000 a year, I can’t believe we wouldn’t find money to pay the women of Quebec,” she says.