No. 38 July 30, 1999
No agreement yet from pay equity meetings with Treasury Board
As reported in pay equity Bulletin No. 37, the Alliance has asked the Human Rights Tribunal in our federal pay equity case to reconvene to deal with all outstanding issues. However, we are prepared to continue meeting with Treasury board to resolve these issues. Meetings have been taking place, the latest one on July 29.In spite of comments from Treasury Board that the meetings are going well, the reality is that we have not reached agreement on the outstanding issues. It is true that meetings have taken place and some small progress has been made. However, at this stage it is likely that there will be issues on which agreement cannot be reached and which will have to be dealt with by the Tribunal.
The government has made it quite clear that it has no intention of making any payments until the Federal Court has ruled. While we have asked the Tribunal when it reconvenes to deal with both the outstanding issues from the Tribunal decision as well as the Phase III issues, some discussions with Treasury Board are starting to take place on the Phase III matters.
Talks are proceeding during August on technical and statistical points. Further meetings are scheduled for mid-September.
Bell Canada and the Supreme Court…what does it really mean
In July 8th, the Supreme Court of Canada denied Bell Canada’s request that they hear an appeal of the decision issued by the Federal Court of Appeal in the matter of a pay equity complaint against Bell. Their decision stems from a decision issued in March 1998 by Justice Muldoon of the Federal Court (Trial Division).
The next day, Treasury Board stated "this recent ruling does not impact on the case involving the federal government and the Public Service Alliance of Canada". Isn’t it funny how opinions change.
The government was quite happy to use the Muldoon decision when it suited their purposes. When Justice Minister Anne McLellan announced the government’s appeal of the Tribunal decision last August, she used the decision as a reason for the appeal. She stated: "There is also a need to clarify the inconsistencies with ruling of the Federal Court in the case of Bell Canada…"
Muldoon’s decision was a bad one for anyone seeking pay equity. No wonder the federal government was ready to embrace it with open arms. However, that situation was remedied when the Federal Court of Appeal overturned the Muldoon decision in its entirety last November, a situation the Supreme Court saw no reason to change.
The Alliance all along indicated that the Muldoon decision had no relevance to our case. It’s taken over a year but the government finally agrees with us.
Invoice the government
One year after the Tribunal decision and the government is still delaying payment of what is owed. Send your Member of Parliament, Jean Chretien, Paul Martin, Marcel Massé, and anyone else in Parliament a message that this is one account that is overdue! Click here for an invoice you can e-mail, fax, mail or present in person. Just add your name and address and send it along. If you don’t have access to the web site, contact your regional office for a copy.