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After decades of advocacy by pay equity groups, including Unifor, workers in New Brunswick secured a major victory on June 12 with the passage of the Pay Transparency Act. The new law aims to advance pay equity by identifying and addressing gender pay gaps across the province.
In the short-term, the legislation expands pay transparency to many public sector workers, with a commitment to expand it to the private and care sectors by 2028.
“Clear, enforceable pay transparency legislation is essential to ensuring fairness in the workplace. By identifying gender pay gaps, we can meaningfully address areas where women’s work is undervalued,” said Unifor National President Lana Payne.
“We are grateful to work alongside organizations like the New Brunswick Coalition for Equal Pay, to once again prove that when we work together, we win together.”
On December 2, 2025, Unifor made a submission to New Brunswick’s review of pay transparency. The new law incorporates many of the union’s recommendations including public pay transparency reports, which mandates that eligible employers produce a publicly accessible annual pay transparency report.
The law also explicitly recognizes multiple equity groups including women, 2SLGBTQIA+ people, Indigenous people, racialized people and people with disabilities, exceeding many existing Canadian pay transparency laws.
Unifor’s core recommendation in its submission, to disclose wages on job postings, was also adopted.
“This is a huge step forward,” said Unifor Atlantic Regional Director Jennifer Murray.
“While there is certainly still more work to do to enforce pay equity, the adoption of the recommendations we put forward towards pay transparency demonstrates the power of our advocacy.”
Unifor is committed to continuing work to advance and enforce pay transparency legislation in New Brunswick and across the country.
