News release

Women:  don’t look for economic equality from a Conservative government

OTTAWA – The Harper government has once again shown that it has little interest in women’s equality in the workforce, says the Public Service Alliance of Canada.

“In a response to the House of Commons Standing Committee on the Status of Women, the Conservatives have said there will be no new, proactive pay equity legislation, ignoring the recommendations of a Federal Pay Equity Task Force,” says PSAC National Executive Vice-President Patty Ducharme.

The Task Force spent three years consulting with employers and employer organizations, unions, women’s groups and individuals, as well as commissioning research on the issue of pay equity.   In May 2004, the Task Force issued its report calling for a complete overhaul of the current complaint-based federal pay equity law.  Instead of a new law, the government is proposing increased education, specialized mediation assistance and compliance monitoring.

According to Ducharme, in the almost 30 years under the current pay equity law, federal public sector employers, including the federal government, have been among the worst offenders.  PSAC’s pay equity complaint against the federal government, affecting over 200,000 current and former employees, took over 16 years to resolve.  A complaint against Canada Post is still ongoing after 23 years.  “We fail to see how new information packages now are going to address federal employers’ extreme reluctance to abide by the law.”

“Compliance monitoring and directing Labour Canada inspectors to examine employers’ wage records may sound good but these records will give no indication whatsoever that an employer is paying equal pay for work of equal value,” says Ducharme.  “There is no legal requirement for employers to have job evaluation plans of any kind, much less gender-neutral plans.  In fact they don’t even have to provide job descriptions.  Without this type of information, and inspectors with the expertise to evaluate it, compliance monitoring is simply an attempt to deter legitimate pay equity complaints.”

Human Rights Tribunals found both the federal government (in 1998) and Canada Post Corporation (in 2005) were not providing pay equity.  Yet, the letter from Minister of Labour Blackburn and Justice Minister Toews to the Standing Committee only refers to inspectors examining private sector employers’ wage records.  Exempting federal public sector employers sends the wrong message that these employers are above the law.

In the PSAC’s experience, federal employers have shown themselves to be more interested in litigation than mediation.  Treasury Board has rejected efforts to mediate a PSAC complaint filed in 2000 against a group of federal employers including the Auditor General’s Office, CSIS and the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions.  After six years, this case still hasn’t gone to trial as Treasury Board continues to file motions to have the case dismissed.

“By refusing to proceed with proactive pay equity legislation, this government is telling working women that unless they have the financial resources to pursue complaints and fight prolonged court battles, they can forget about economic justice in the workplace,” says Ducharme.

For information:
Louise Laporte, PSAC Communications
613-560-4287 or 613-558-4975 (cell)

28-210906