No. 13

December 17, 1997

TREASURY BOARD WALKS AWAY FROM NEGOTIATIONS - AGAIN!

On December 8 PSAC representatives met with Mary Eberts and her Treasury Board team to continue the pay equity discussions. While the talks were taking place, Treasury Board President Marcel Massé was conducting a news conference saying negotiations were at an end and making erroneous pronouncements about the Alliance's position.

The Alliance's position has been consistent before the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal and in talks with the government. In order for the pay equity complaint to be resolved we want our members to receive retroactive wages, interest on the money owed for the last thirteen years, and damages to compensate in some way for the fact that members have not had access to these funds.

Retroactive Wages: This is the amount owed which will eliminate the wage gap between the average women's wage and the average men's wage for our members in the federal public service. The Alliance has maintained its position that in order to comply with the law, this gap must be closed completely - 100%.

Treasury Board's offer of a lump sum of $3,000 for CRs and $2,500 for other groups up to March 31, 1987, comes to less than 25% of what is owed for some groups and levels. An offer of 65% in 1987/88 becomes less than 40% for some groups and levels by 1992/93. The average wage for employees in male-dominated groups rose dramatically during that period but Treasury Board's offer ignores that. Their offer certainly does not meet the employer's obligation under the law.

Interest: Before the Tribunal, both the PSAC and the Canadian Human Rights Commission argued in support of compound interest on the money owed. Treasury Board argued in support of simple interest. In a good faith attempt to resolve the dispute, the Alliance made a significant move and tabled a proposal on October 30^th for simple interest - the same position Treasury Board put before the Tribunal. Now Marcel Massé is claiming this same position is unreasonable.

Damages: The request for damages is an attempt to compensate PSAC members for the fact that they haven't been paid properly for the last thirteen years and the impact this has had on them. Opportunities to use these funds for particular needs over this period have been lost forever. In addition, any funds received in damages are not taxable and therefore of maximum benefit.

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No one said that the amount of money required to resolve this complaint would be small. It involves a large number of current and former employees and it has gone on for thirteen years. By allowing the problem to continue and the outstanding amounts to grow over the years, the government hopes to intimidate our members into accepting less than they are owed because the total amount seems so large.

Another significant point which the government fails to mention is that with the exception of damages, all pay equity money is taxable. While the union is continuing to propose ways and means to minimize the impact of taxation, a sizeable portion of the settlement will be returned to the federal government in taxes.

Our calculations can be summarized as follows:

Retroactive wages owed - $2.2-billion - less federal tax* = $1.6-billion

Simple interest at 8% average - $1.275-billion less federal tax* = $994-million

Damages - $500-million (not taxable)

Total - $3.094-billion

[*A federal tax rate of 26% which applies to incomes over $29,000 has been used.]

Salary-related benefits adjustment - amount unknown

The government has also made reference to amounts required to make adjustments to pensions, maternity leave allowances, etc. Without detailed information about current and former employees, this amount is virtually

impossible to calculate. However, the funds for adjustments in these cases will come from the Public Service Superannuation Plan and the Employment Insurance plan respectively, both of which are funded in part by our members' contributions. In the case of EI, the government makes no contributions.

Beware of the government's calculations

Throughout this process, Treasury Board's numbers have changed regularly and, on many occasions, failed to add up. When calculating the number of individuals affected by the complaint, we believe a significant amount of double counting has occurred, based on the figures they have filed with us. For example, terms working on a short-term but regular basis for Revenue Canada at tax time or for Statistics Canada at census time, are being counted repeatedly which serves to inflate Treasury Board's calculations.

The question of a vote

Marcel Massé continues to avoid the real issue - settling the complaint and issuing cheques - while trying to muddy the waters by talking about a vote on the government's offer. Why is he so keen on a vote? Perhaps because he continues to underestimate PSAC members and assumes they might accept the government's inadequate offer. If they did, the government would certainly save money and avoid an embarrassing and expensive Tribunal decision. Would you vote just to let the government off the hook and save Massé some embarrassment?

In addition, the current Treasury Board offer does not include a penny for 13 years of interest and damages. The government wants you to vote on this but doesn't extend its logic to other situations. Canadians certainly don't get to vote on whether or not they're going to pay interest when they owe the government money.

Pay equity negotiations are different from other negotiations for pay and benefits and Treasury Board is trying to confuse the two. The Canadian Human Rights Act and guidelines require the wage gap to be closed completely. Treasury Board's offer would still leave a gap, and is, therefore, against the law.

Treasury Board also wants current employees to vote to accept an offer which seriously disadvantages former employees, many of whom are retired and living on very small pensions. A fair settlement will significantly increase these pensions. Of the close to 200,000 persons Treasury Board claims are affected by the complaint, only about 54,000 are current employees. Those not working for the public service would be next to impossible to reach for a vote.

The struggle continues

Starting on December 1 and continuing during the first week of December, PSAC members took action across the country to mark the 13^th anniversary of the filing of the CR pay equity complaint. And they were not alone. Representatives from other unions, federations of labour, women's and senior's groups joined the protests in various locations. [See the current Union Update for details of some of these activities.]

With the return of mail service, thousands of greeting cards are being sent to MPs reminding them that without pay equity there is no peace, without collective bargaining there is no prosperity and low morale means no joy in this holiday season.

Newspaper ads calling on the government to stop "just talking" about their offer and to issue downpayment cheques now, are appearing in daily and community newspapers from December 13 to 21.

Hotline Holiday

The popular PSAC pay equity hotline is taking a break! It will not be answered between December 24 and January 5 so that the member staffing it can take a well-deserved holiday. The hotline number is (613) 236-0572 (NCR) and 1-888-655-5111. We'll be happy to hear from you in the new year!

Correspondence by e-mail addressed to - equalpay@psac.com - will continue to be answered during the holiday period.