Thank you.
I should state that although I am counsel to one of the members of FETCO, I am here as a representative of FETCO and not on behalf of Canada Post. Thank you.
FETCO: what does it stand for? Federally Regulated Employers—Transportation and Communication. We are an organization of most of the major employers and employer groups in transportation and communication under federal jurisdiction. A brief will be submitted. In appendix A of that brief are listed all the members of the organization: Canada Post, CBC, the railways, the ports, the airlines, and so on.
FETCO members employ approximately 586,000 workers, 212,000 of whom are unionized. We represent approximately two-thirds of the unionized workforce under federal jurisdiction. We are pleased to be invited here today to give our preliminary views on the proposed Public Sector Equitable Compensation Act.
Our members have extensive experience with the current section 11 of the present Canadian Human Rights Act. A number of us have been deeply involved in equal pay for work of equal value issues, assessments, and litigation over decades. It is without a doubt a deeply important and complex issue. However, there are certain flaws in the current section 11 of the Canadian Human Rights Act that have generally been unhelpful to parties in resolving equal pay disputes, and we would like to comment on that.
The proposed Public Sector Equitable Compensation Act, while it does not apply to our members in the federally regulated private sector, contains important new principles and sound operative provisions that we believe will improve the ability of employers and unions in the federal public sector to assess and implement equal pay or equitable compensation for men and women in a manner that is pragmatic and fair.
This legislation makes sense to our members because, one, it integrates equitable compensation, equal pay for work of equal value, into the collective bargaining process; two, it requires that both employers and unions share responsibility for equitable compensation or pay equity, not the employer alone; and three, more importantly for those of us who've been involved in protracted litigation under section 11 of the Canadian Human Rights Act, it provides a more efficient, effective, and equitable problem-solving and dispute resolution procedure.
The heart of the issue for FETCO has always been the fact that equal pay for work of equal value must be integrated into the collective bargaining process. Like equal pay for work of equal value, freedom of association for employees is accorded the status of being a fundamental human right, and both are considered sacrosanct in our society. But that does not mean, in our view, that they cannot be addressed together. If anything, they must be addressed together in order for both to be balanced and achieved.
The current section 11 of the Canadian Human Rights Act articulates only the general principle that men and women who are performing work of equal value must receive equal pay. Other than articulating the general principle, it has been left to the courts and tribunal. In our view, this vagary of section 11 has been routinely and strategically leveraged by trade unions as a means by which to effectively reopen negotiated collective agreements. It's a second kick, as it were, that flies in the face of the fundamental sanctity of collective bargaining. This is fair in a non-unionized environment where the employer alone is responsible for setting the wage package and terms and conditions of employment, but in the unionized sector it is both the employer and the trade union together that are responsible for making a bilateral decision about terms and conditions of employment. And I dare say—in my experience, anyway—it is largely the trade union that makes decisions about how that wage package is to be allocated and distributed, and so it's the collective bargaining parties that must also be responsible for implementing pay equity.
We elaborate more fully in our brief on these issues and the mischief of the current legislation. FETCO commissioned a comprehensive study on the issue when we appeared before the Bilson task force; and Professor Paul Weiler, a noted Canadian academic, labour lawyer, and jurist, prepared a paper. It has also been provided to you.
In sum, if I just could—