The Employment Equity Program

What do words like « equity », « inclusion », « barrier free » and "equality" mean to you? Does equity actually matter?

Sure it does. It matters that people who are racially visible are not getting their fair share of job opportunities because of race based barriers in the staffing process.

It matters that people with visual impairments are not being provided with an equitable chance because their competition study material is not available in an alternate format or that persons with learning disabilities encounter huge obstacles with employment tests.

It matters that women are still largely being hired through administrative and clerical positions in many organizations and it matters that Aboriginal Peoples consistently have higher termination rates than anyone else.

Your union continues to challenge workplace inequalities and employment equity is a natural continuum in our struggle for human rights.

We're taking the opportunity being offered through the formal review of the Employment Equity Act to strengthen the provisions of the only legislation which aims to achieve equality in the workplace by ensuring that women, persons with disabilities, visible minorities and Aboriginal Peoples are not denied opportunities for reasons unrelated to their abilities.

We are offering skills-building opportunities so that our members and leaders can play a role in ensuring the implementation of the requirements of the Employment Equity Act. We are also providing information so that our members in the workplace understand the important need to support equity measures – but more importantly understand the steps involved in identifying and building these.

Equity is an integral part of our union's vision - we ensure this through the identification of our priorities in the task forces underway, in relation to our representation and organizing strategies and in the identification of our union's priorities.

We're counting...and re-counting the numbers provided in the Human Resources Development Canada Annual Report on Employment Equity and the Treasury Board Annual Report on Employment Equity. Numbers alone don't prove discrimination, but after fifteen years of the existence of the federal Employment Equity Act, we're entitled to expect representation gaps to have closed. The sad reality is that barely a dent has been made in the situation of persons with disabilities for the federally regulated sector. In the federal public service, the representation gap for persons who are racially visible can only be described as shameful.

Bargaining equity is not without its challenges. Human rights issues don't traditionally fare well in the process - particularly when employers, who don't often see human rights as a priority, arrive at the table with an intransigent bargaining positions. We are clear in our objective of ensuring this process adequately responds to human rights principles. With respect to Treasury Board units, the bargaining process underscores the need for legislative reform in order to provide us with the ability to negotiate barrier free staffing and promotions.

The PSAC is also pushing the duty to accommodate concept forward. In many ways, the Supreme Court decision in the case of Meiorin has simply re-affirmed the important work of achieving equality in the workplace by ensuring that employment related rules, policies and practices are barrier free.

PSAC members can make a difference and ensure that our workplaces are inclusive, representative and barrier–free.

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Date Modified : 2008/03/03

Public Service Alliance of Canada | 233, Gilmour Street, Ottawa, ONTARIO CANADA, K2P 0P1, Tel.: 1 888 604-7722 (PSAC) Local: 613-560-4200