The Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) is welcoming news that pay equity will be strictly enforced for federal employees, a move that can only make the wages of some increase..In a Tuesday press release, PSAC said it was “pleased” to see the federal Pay Equity Commissioner deny the government’s plan to “water down” its implementation of the Pay Equity Act. .The Pay Equity Act, which came into effect in August 2021, mandates employers to proactively establish pay equity plans within a three-year timeframe and adjust salaries accordingly..In July 2022, the Treasury Board requested the Pay Equity Commissioner's approval for three separate pay equity plans for the core federal public service, rather than a single plan encompassing all employees. .PSAC claimed such a move would undermine the aim of the legislation and perpetuate wage discrimination in the federal public service. Last week, the commissioner denied the Treasury Board request..“This proves what we have been saying all along,” said Chris Aylward, PSAC national president..“Treasury Board’s proposal amounts to ‘pay equity lite’ and will inevitably hurt workers – with fewer comparisons and more wage discrimination. This decision is an important step forward on the road to pay equity.” .Treasury Board’s proposal would have created three separate pay equity plans divided along bargaining agent lines. Under this three-plan model, women-predominant classifications would have been compared against only a portion of the men-predominant classifications in the core public administration. .This risked denying equal pay for work of equal value to many women-predominant classifications, which make up over one-third of the federal public service and are some of the most severely impacted by historic gender-based wage discrimination. .Treasury Board has 30 days to request a judicial review at the Federal Court. .“We urge the government not to create further delays in the pay equity process,” said Aylward..“With just over a year remaining until the final pay equity plan is due, it’s time to stop stalling, roll up our sleeves and get to work to end the systemic gender-based pay discrimination in Canada’s largest workforce.”.Pay equity alleges that if a predominantly female sector of employees (for example, clerical staff) is underpaid compared to a predominantly male sector (for example, engineers), the reason for the disparity is discrimination..Such motivations are hard to establish; successful pay equity claims never result in lower wages for a favoured class and always result in more pay for complainants..A PSAC pay equity case by female clerical Canada Post workers launched in 1992 wound its way through near-endless procedures for almost 30 years. It was finally resolved with a $150 million award to the plaintiffs in 2011..The Harper government undermined the ability of the federal civil service to launch pay equity claims through measures placed in the 2009 budget. However, the Trudeau Liberals entrenched the principle through the Pay Equity Act in 2021..PSAC is Canada’s largest federal public service union, representing nearly 230,000 workers in every province and territory in Canada, including more than 120,000 federal public service workers employed by the Treasury Board, and more than 35,000 employed by the Canada Revenue Agency.
