No. 30

September 24, 1998

Treasury Board’s "unconditional" offer full of strings

Treasury Board is up to its old tricks again - saying one thing and doing another. TB had advised that they would be tabling an offer on ongoing pay equity adjustments during negotiations with Table 1 during the week of September 21. They claimed - and still do - that this offer would be "unconditional".

In fact, the so-called unconditional offer came with almost as many strings as your average violin. String 1 - the offer was tied to an overall settlement at Table 1; string 2 - the offer was tied to collective agreement rollbacks; string 3 - the offer was tied to economic increases of 2% or less; string 4 - the offer was tied to another denial of human rights - the government’s proposal to deny parental leave to common-law spouses. In other words, the government is prepared to give you a portion of what you’re owed but you have to accept rollbacks, inadequate economic increases and more attacks on human rights to get it. And to top it all off, Treasury Board‘s proposed economic increases were not calculated on wage rates which included the folded-in pay equity adjustments. This is an offer PSAC members can definitely refuse!

The offer presented to Table 1 covered all six affected groups even though the HS group is represented at Table 2 and the LS group is at Table 5. The Table 1 team agreed that the employer’s proposed rollbacks and increases were unacceptable, regardless of the pay equity offer. The next step is the appointment of a conciliation board.

Results of first meeting to discuss implementation

On the evening of September 22, the Alliance met with TB representatives to discuss implementation of the Tribunal decision, as directed by the Tribunal. At this meeting Treasury Board confirmed that no interim ongoing pay equity adjustments would be made unless they are tied to a negotiated collective agreement. They also confirmed that while they are ready to discuss calculations of retroactive pay, they’re not prepared to make interim retroactive payments.

The Alliance reiterated its position that the government is legally bound to implement the Tribunal decision and stated that both retroactive payments and ongoing adjustments be dealt with immediately. The union will be sending a letter to Marcel Massé outlining the issues Treasury Board will need to address if further meetings are to be held.

Earth to Jean…

Faced once again with angry PSAC members, this time in St. John’s, Newfoundland on September 22, Jean Chrétien resorted to "daring the union" to call a vote on the government’s pay equity offer. He was quoted as saying: "We have $1.3-billion on the table and we want them to negotiate with us and agree with us."

Wake up Jean. There was a Canadian Human Rights Tribunal decision in July. The $1.3 -billion offer doesn’t come close to what is actually owed. A vote on an offer that is less than what was ordered by the Tribunal is against the law. A vote on any offer is against the law. Human rights are not a voting matter. Jean, isn’t it time to stop the lies and the games.

Latest Treasury Board Questions and Answers

There’s more double talk out of Treasury Board with their latest questions and answers.

TB says: "The negotiations at the table are not intended to implement the Tribunal’s ruling. Rather, they are distinct negotiations that could result in payments to employees that can be made in spite of the judicial review application."

We say: Treasury Board can implement interim ongoing payments to employees at any time. They don’t need negotiations to do that. Treasury Board’s real agenda is try to get away with paying less than is owed by pitting the pay equity payments against economic increases, to undermine the Orders in the Tribunal decision, and undermine the value system under the equal pay study.

TB says: "The $1.3-billion offer remains on the table….We know that employees have waited too long for a resolution, and we sincerely hope that the PSAC will help us achieve a fair and reasonable resolution to this dispute." "If we can work together, we may.…succeed in making payments, either ongoing or retroactive, or both to employees by the end of the year - December."

We say: This statement flies in the face of statements made at the September 22 meeting when TB said it was not prepared to make interim retroactive payments. If the $1.3-billion offer is on the table, why doesn’t the government stop talking about it and put it into our current and former members’ pockets as a down payment on the full retroactivity owed.

TB says: "The government decided that…it would be willing to work with the union to find ways to implement some pay equity adjustments for employees."

We say: There’s a very simple way to implement some pay equity adjustments…just pay them!