N 25

August 28, 1998

GOVERNMENT APPEAL A SLAP IN THE FACE TO ALL CANADIAN WOMEN

Justice Minister Anne McLellan and Treasury Board President Marcel Massé should take their ice-dancing act to the next Skate Canada competition. They'd win hands down. At their news conference on August 27, they tried to explain that the government is appealing the Human Rights Tribunal decision because the law needs clarification. However, later on Massé hinted that if a settlement was reached with the union, they might not want to pursue the appeal.

In spite of McLellan's pathetic attempts to reassure journalists that their objective was clarification, it was clear that the appeal is really being used as yet another tactic to try to get PSAC members to settle for considerably less than they are owed.

There is no need for clarification. The Tribunal's well-reasoned and clearly written decision is completely in keeping with the Pay Equity Guidelines, in spite of what the government claims. There is no one special methodology prescribed by either section 11 or the Guidelines. The Tribunal's choice of the Canadian Human Rights Commission's methodology is perfectly acceptable.

Massé, in offering to meet with the union to settle this issue, indicated the case had gone on long enough. We couldn't agree more. However, it has been successive governments who have been responsible for the long delays. And, now, by launching an appeal, they're going to try to delay it even more in spite of the fact that they've lost every court challenge they've tried since 1991.

Massé and others have admitted that funds have been put aside for pay equity. If that wasn't enough, the Finance department announced on August 18 that the government has racked up a $5.8-billion surplus for the first three months of fiscal year 1998 (April - June). At this rate, the annual surplus could amount to $22.8-billion! The government's ongoing stall tactics send a nasty message to their employees and to all Canadian women…we don't believe you're worth it; human rights be damned. It also sends a signal to employers that women are fair game for discriminatory practices.

The next steps

The Tribunal decision confirmed that the government's 1997 offers to settle were nothing more than attempts to get PSAC members to accept a cheap settlement of the pay equity complaint. Our members weren't fooled then, they won't be fooled now.

Masse has said that he will be contacting the union to meet to discuss a settlement to resolve the issue. He seems to think that their offer of $1.3-billion will be enough to settle the question of retroactive pay when everyone knows it is not acceptable because it is much less than is owed according to the Tribunal decision. We are prepared to meet at any time to discuss the implementation of the decision. The methodology, the groups involved, the retroactive date and the payment of interest have been decided by the Tribunal and are not negotiable.

We will proceed to take legal steps to have the decision implemented while the government appeals. While the decision gives the parties one year to implement the decision, we don't intend to let Treasury Board use their appeal as an excuse to avoid discussions and decisions on implementation.

Keeping up the pressure

Just because the government has appealed doesn't mean it can't withdraw the appeal at any time. As outlined in Bulletin 24, the government really does not have a case to bring before the Federal Court.

Whether or not the government continues to pursue its fruitless delaying tactics will depend on the amount of pressure the union and our members can generate, together with other unions, our coalition partners and support from the community.

Together we need to reinforce the message that:

• pay equity is the law and the Tribunal has confirmed the law is being broken;
• the issue is human rights, not money;
• implementing the decision will not mean an increase in taxes nor will it take funds away from other areas such as health care and education - contingency funds have already been put aside and the government is running surpluses;
• pay equity payments will provide an economic boost right across the country;
• while the total bill (about $4-billion) may seem large, it represents 13 years of retroactive payments and has only accumulated to this point because of governments' unwillingness to deal with the issue;
• the stalling tactics are in fact costing taxpayers more - interest now has to be paid and will continue to accumulate to the tune of $2-million a week until the pay equity payments are made;
• don't delay…just pay!

Plan your own protest activities and contact the PSAC regional office in your area today to join in the activities being planned.