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More than half a year after the Liberal government promised federal pay equity legislation, a chorus of critics are questioning the speed in which the file is being handled and whether the Liberals’ proposed timeline is a matter of politics rather than policy.
Those on the front lines in the fight to ensure women are paid equally for work of equal value say there is no need for the government to drag their feet on pay equity until late 2018 — when it has said it will introduce legislation.
Instead, they suggest the government’s proposed timing is a cynical ploy aimed at getting the legislation introduced as the Liberals begin to campaign for the 2019 federal election.
The Liberal government has maintained that that they simply aren’t ready to proceed with legislation until they have time to further consult with stakeholders on a matter that requires significant “technical expertise,” such as pay equity methodologies, wage comparisons and reporting requirements.
The scope of the legislation is wide – it encompasses approximately 874,000 workers and 10,800 employers across the public service, Crown corporations and other federally-regulated banks, airlines, telecommunication companies and radio and television broadcasters.
But those stakeholders said the consultations have been already done, and the only barrier to pay equity legislation (which would require federally-regulated employers to review and fix their compensation systems for gender-based wage disparities) is political will – something that shouldn’t be lacking for a party that has created a brand around gender equality and its “feminist” prime minister.
Janet Borowy, a labour relations lawyer and co-chair of the Ontario Equal Pay Coalition, said all the topics covered in the stakeholder consultations have been dealt with before, either by the special committee on pay equity that filed its report last June, or the comprehensive 2004 Bilson task force report whose recommendations were shelved after the Conservatives won the 2006 election.
That report looked at international obligations that existed, along with pro-active pay equity legislation that has been in place now for decades in the private and public sectors in Quebec and Ontario. However, the Liberal government at the time concluded the Bilson report didn’t provide an adequate blueprint for the implementation of pay equity in federally-regulated workplaces.
“We’re just spinning our wheels again,” said Borowy of the additional consultations, which begin this month.
“I find it a bit tiresome that people call pay equity complex. This isn’t building a rocket ship. This isn’t the Canada space arm. This is bringing a human rights approach to understanding how work is organized, how work is valued and moving forward. That is not that technically difficult,” she said.
Borowy said it currently takes on average 15 and a half months for women to earn the same as their male counterparts do in a year. The average difference in earnings is about 28 to 30 per cent, she said, with much wider gaps for women who are Aboriginal, immigrant or from racialized communities.
“Politics is in part about due diligence, but it is also about will and if the federal Liberals were committed to moving on this more quickly I expect they could,” added Kendra Coulter, a Brock University professor who last year co-authored a report on the gender wage gap in Ontario’s retail sector.
“Every day that passes it means that women are being shortchanged,” she said.
Coulter said an increase of even a few dollars would make a meaningful difference in the lives of women and their families.
“If this government is serious about setting itself a high standard on women’s issues and gender equity, then this is a very clear and straightforward example where they could get to work more quickly,” said Coulter. “We definitely had a tone change, but it is really time that we see the goods.”
Robyn Benson, the president of the Public Service Alliance of Canada, the largest public service union with about 90,000 members, suggested that the pay equity legislation has become “a goodie for the election.”
“There is absolutely no need for them to wait until 2018. All of that work has been done. It was done years ago, it has been redone, they can do it. They choose not to do it,” said Benson.
Currently, public service workers must make pay equity complaints under the Public Sector Compensation Act. The controversial act was brought in by the Conservatives in 2009, but never finalized. However, transitional provisions took away the right of women in the federal public service to file pay complaints under the Canadian Human Rights Act.
“I think they will do it in 2018 because it is close enough to an election that they will have given pay equity and (say) ‘look at us, look how good we are.’ They could do it now, but by the time the election comes, that will be an afterthought,” said Benson.
Matt Pascuzzo, press secretary to Employment, Workforce and Labour minister Patty Hajdu, said work is underway. Consultations will begin this spring with groups including employers, organized labour and other experts, he said.
“Equal pay for work of equal value is a human right and we are very proud to be moving forward with proactive pay equity legislation; it’s a key way in which our government is delivering on its commitment to gender equality,” said Pascuzzo.
Pascuzzo said pay equity is only one part of the Liberal approach to gender equality, which also included gender analysis in the budget, a $7 billion investment in child care, child benefits and a more transparent and merit-based government appointment process.
The legislation will apply to any federally-regulated workplace with 15 or more employees, and the Liberals want to make sure they get it right, Pascuzzo said.
Paul Durber, a former director of pay equity at the Canadian Human Rights Commission, suggested cost could be a factor in the timing, especially as it relates to the public service.
“It’s been 30 years since the government really did a thorough job of figuring out what the value of work was in the public service,” he said. “Clearly they have to consult as a government to make sure all the I’s are dotted and the T’s are crossed because there really are quite a few of them.”
Questions about whether that work was already under way weren’t answered by Treasury Board President Scott Brison’s office Monday.
But Durber said introducing legislation is only the beginning – it will take months to get the legislation passed, and even longer to implement it. There really is no need to delay it until 2018, he said.
“I don’t understand why they couldn’t have that ready by the fall, given a reasonable, speedy consultation schedule,” said Durber. “The difficulty is, there is going to be a timeline for implementation in this thing. We are not only putting off legislation, we are putting off implementation by another year.”
Conservative MP Marilyn Gladu, who sat on the pay equity committee and is chair of the Standing Committee on the Status of Women, said pay equity has fallen into the Liberals’ pattern of pushing their promises off to later in their mandate.
“My impression is this government is all talk and no action. They talk a big story about how he’s a feminist, and he’s for women’s rights, but if you look at what they could have done, there are hundreds of thousands of government employees who they could have at least started the analysis on the job classes to get to a place of pay equity,” Gladu said.
aseymour@postmedia.com
Twitter.com/andrew_seymour
查看原文...
Those on the front lines in the fight to ensure women are paid equally for work of equal value say there is no need for the government to drag their feet on pay equity until late 2018 — when it has said it will introduce legislation.
Instead, they suggest the government’s proposed timing is a cynical ploy aimed at getting the legislation introduced as the Liberals begin to campaign for the 2019 federal election.
The Liberal government has maintained that that they simply aren’t ready to proceed with legislation until they have time to further consult with stakeholders on a matter that requires significant “technical expertise,” such as pay equity methodologies, wage comparisons and reporting requirements.
The scope of the legislation is wide – it encompasses approximately 874,000 workers and 10,800 employers across the public service, Crown corporations and other federally-regulated banks, airlines, telecommunication companies and radio and television broadcasters.
But those stakeholders said the consultations have been already done, and the only barrier to pay equity legislation (which would require federally-regulated employers to review and fix their compensation systems for gender-based wage disparities) is political will – something that shouldn’t be lacking for a party that has created a brand around gender equality and its “feminist” prime minister.
Janet Borowy, a labour relations lawyer and co-chair of the Ontario Equal Pay Coalition, said all the topics covered in the stakeholder consultations have been dealt with before, either by the special committee on pay equity that filed its report last June, or the comprehensive 2004 Bilson task force report whose recommendations were shelved after the Conservatives won the 2006 election.
That report looked at international obligations that existed, along with pro-active pay equity legislation that has been in place now for decades in the private and public sectors in Quebec and Ontario. However, the Liberal government at the time concluded the Bilson report didn’t provide an adequate blueprint for the implementation of pay equity in federally-regulated workplaces.
“We’re just spinning our wheels again,” said Borowy of the additional consultations, which begin this month.
“I find it a bit tiresome that people call pay equity complex. This isn’t building a rocket ship. This isn’t the Canada space arm. This is bringing a human rights approach to understanding how work is organized, how work is valued and moving forward. That is not that technically difficult,” she said.
Borowy said it currently takes on average 15 and a half months for women to earn the same as their male counterparts do in a year. The average difference in earnings is about 28 to 30 per cent, she said, with much wider gaps for women who are Aboriginal, immigrant or from racialized communities.
“Politics is in part about due diligence, but it is also about will and if the federal Liberals were committed to moving on this more quickly I expect they could,” added Kendra Coulter, a Brock University professor who last year co-authored a report on the gender wage gap in Ontario’s retail sector.
“Every day that passes it means that women are being shortchanged,” she said.
Coulter said an increase of even a few dollars would make a meaningful difference in the lives of women and their families.
“If this government is serious about setting itself a high standard on women’s issues and gender equity, then this is a very clear and straightforward example where they could get to work more quickly,” said Coulter. “We definitely had a tone change, but it is really time that we see the goods.”
Robyn Benson, the president of the Public Service Alliance of Canada, the largest public service union with about 90,000 members, suggested that the pay equity legislation has become “a goodie for the election.”
“There is absolutely no need for them to wait until 2018. All of that work has been done. It was done years ago, it has been redone, they can do it. They choose not to do it,” said Benson.
Currently, public service workers must make pay equity complaints under the Public Sector Compensation Act. The controversial act was brought in by the Conservatives in 2009, but never finalized. However, transitional provisions took away the right of women in the federal public service to file pay complaints under the Canadian Human Rights Act.
“I think they will do it in 2018 because it is close enough to an election that they will have given pay equity and (say) ‘look at us, look how good we are.’ They could do it now, but by the time the election comes, that will be an afterthought,” said Benson.
Matt Pascuzzo, press secretary to Employment, Workforce and Labour minister Patty Hajdu, said work is underway. Consultations will begin this spring with groups including employers, organized labour and other experts, he said.
“Equal pay for work of equal value is a human right and we are very proud to be moving forward with proactive pay equity legislation; it’s a key way in which our government is delivering on its commitment to gender equality,” said Pascuzzo.
Pascuzzo said pay equity is only one part of the Liberal approach to gender equality, which also included gender analysis in the budget, a $7 billion investment in child care, child benefits and a more transparent and merit-based government appointment process.
The legislation will apply to any federally-regulated workplace with 15 or more employees, and the Liberals want to make sure they get it right, Pascuzzo said.
Paul Durber, a former director of pay equity at the Canadian Human Rights Commission, suggested cost could be a factor in the timing, especially as it relates to the public service.
“It’s been 30 years since the government really did a thorough job of figuring out what the value of work was in the public service,” he said. “Clearly they have to consult as a government to make sure all the I’s are dotted and the T’s are crossed because there really are quite a few of them.”
Questions about whether that work was already under way weren’t answered by Treasury Board President Scott Brison’s office Monday.
But Durber said introducing legislation is only the beginning – it will take months to get the legislation passed, and even longer to implement it. There really is no need to delay it until 2018, he said.
“I don’t understand why they couldn’t have that ready by the fall, given a reasonable, speedy consultation schedule,” said Durber. “The difficulty is, there is going to be a timeline for implementation in this thing. We are not only putting off legislation, we are putting off implementation by another year.”
Conservative MP Marilyn Gladu, who sat on the pay equity committee and is chair of the Standing Committee on the Status of Women, said pay equity has fallen into the Liberals’ pattern of pushing their promises off to later in their mandate.
“My impression is this government is all talk and no action. They talk a big story about how he’s a feminist, and he’s for women’s rights, but if you look at what they could have done, there are hundreds of thousands of government employees who they could have at least started the analysis on the job classes to get to a place of pay equity,” Gladu said.
aseymour@postmedia.com
Twitter.com/andrew_seymour
查看原文...
