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By STEPHEN LLEWELLYN
llewellyn.stephen@dailygleaner.com

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The New Brunswick public service will be covered by pay equity within three years.

Legislation introduced Friday will create a pay equity bureau that will assist, guide and oversee pay equity in the civil service, health care, the school system and Crown corporations.

Currently pay equity is only implemented in one part of the public service - the civil service.

"Pay equity legislation is essential to New Brunswick," said Mary Schryer, the minister responsible for the status of women.

"Today is a great day for the province of New Brunswick ... for myself personally as a minister and as a woman and as a mother who has a daughter about to go into the workforce," she said.

Under the legislation, employers will do job evaluations that compare traditionally female jobs with traditionally male jobs based on skill, effort, responsibility and working conditions.

"Every job in the public sector will go through this process," said Schryer.

She said the new bureau will be in place by April.

"Once employers are done with implementing the pay equity bureau, calculation of the valuation of differences in compensation and pay adjustments will take place," she said.

The act states the changes must be complete within 24 months of the bureau being established and the employer must report on its results to the bureau within 25 months.

The legislation also creates an arbitrator to resolve disputes.

Schryer had no estimate on what it would cost to implement pay equity across the public service or how many women will be affected until the inequities are determined.

"Today is the start of the journey," she said.

The new pay equity legislation replaces the Pay Equity Act that was introduced in 1989.

Huberte Gautreau, president of the New Brunswick Coalition for Pay Equity said, thousands of women will be assisted by the new legislation.

"The bottom line is it should correct all the discriminatory practices there are at work," she said.

Gautreau said it might be expensive to implement, but the economy has been benefiting on the backs of women and they should be paid properly.

Tory Leader David Alward said he supports pay equity in principle.

"We will be reviewing it and asking questions as we go forward," he said.

"We believe the government needs to provide leadership, needs to set examples for the rest of our society."

Schryer also hinted pay equity could be coming to the private sector.

"Stay tuned until next week because we are not done," she said.