Statement from the Mayor: Support for City of St. John's Employees

I would like to strongly reiterate my support for all City of St. John’s employees – both female and male.

This organization in no way condones discrimination based on gender.  We proudly hire the best candidate for the job, regardless of sex, religion or race; our Human Resource policies clearly direct our actions in this regard.

The women and men who work for the City of St. John’s are offered a salary based on a collective agreement, negotiated with the unions, or a management position with pre-determined salary ranges, as per our management contract.

While our Council may be male-dominated, for now, our staff and executive certainly are not.  There are no differences between the salaries offered for women and men; the glass ceiling was shattered here many, many years ago; and we have no intention of heading backwards.

Why would we? As our Prime Minister said when asked why his Cabinet was 50 per cent women, this is the twenty-first century.

Any statements made in the public recently about ladies and their salaries absolutely do not reflect the opinions of myself, the Deputy Mayor, the majority of Council, or the Executive.