Thank you, Chair.
Good morning, committee members. It's always a thrill for me to be here and appear in front of any committee. I studied politics many years ago and am a non-partisan political junkie. I spend way too much time watching CNN and related media.
I am the president and CEO of FETCO. FETCO stands for Federally Regulated Employers - Transportation and Communications. We are all federally related firms in the transportation and communications sectors. We've existed as an organization for over 30 years. We're generally large employers in the federal sector encompassing over 500,000 employees. FETCO members are household names to many of you: Air Canada, Bell, CN, CP, FedEx, UPS, WestJet and Telus, to name just a few.
Today, in my limited time with you, I'm going to spend a couple of minutes on two key issues in this bill: division 14, on the pay equity bill, and division 15, on the Canada Labour Code. I'm not going to comment clause by clause on provisions within the bill. Time today doesn't permit me to do that, nor did the time in terms of reviewing the bill allow me to do that.
I want to talk about four key messages in terms of our messaging to you today. The first is about, and I think this has been discussed at your committee, the use of omnibus budget bills. Here we are going to be equal opportunity criticizers. This is an issue on which we were critical of the previous government, and we will raise it again today.
This bill is nearly 900 pages long, and it includes enormous diversity. To review it in one week and provide any sort of meaningful feedback to you is difficult, so we're looking specifically at two critical issues that affect our members. Both have been the result of consultation efforts the government has undertaken, but at this point, I'd say that this feels a little bit rushed. We've gotten to this point where legislation has been introduced, and we are very quickly going to go through this bill, and let's be real, it's a budget bill, so it's likely to pass with only limited amendment.
The other thing, of course, as I think has been pointed out, is that the modern labour standards piece in this bill related to part III was not specifically referenced in budget 2018, so it is likely inappropriate in this space.
It would have been our preference if both of these bills were stand-alone pieces of legislation. The government has committed a lot of energy to pay equity and to part lll of the code. We've been engaged quite extensively with our counterparts in the labour movement, and it certainly would have been our preference to see these introduced as separate pieces of legislation.
My second point is really about business costs. Our concern with this bill is that there are some indications that due consideration is not being given to business costs. I raise this as a broader issue to the government as a whole.
We've seen a lot of major workplace-related changes over the past three years. I'll give you just some examples, for which there are major cost implications for the employer community: paid personal leave, family responsibility leave, expanded vacation leave, caregiver leave, indigenous practices leave, leave for victims of domestic violence, medical leave, changes to the EI program, accessibility legislation, flexible work arrangements, pay equity, termination compensation, and the elimination of wait periods for certain compensatory benefits. We're now starting to talk about a new statutory holiday. All of these have major cost implications.
On an individual basis, I think it's quite rational to look at them and logically conclude that they are reasonable, but there's a cumulative effect from a number of these changes that is having a real, major effect on the business community. As we're having a national dialogue on issues like business investment, workplace productivity and economic competitiveness, it's tough when we're simultaneously driving up the cost of doing business. To us that seems like a contradiction, and we think it is reasonable that business costs would be factored into any of these discussions.
Specifically, on the bill in front of us today, I have some comments on both the pay equity bill and the changes to the Canada Labour Code. On the pay equity provisions, I want to be very clear, and I hope there is no misunderstanding between us today. Our organization, FETCO, is very supportive of the concept of pay equity, equal pay for work of equal value. We believe that closing the wage gap is of critical importance. It is the right thing to do. It makes business sense.
The concern we've been raising for the two years we've been having this discussion, specific to this bill, is about the methodology. I recognize that the ship has likely sailed, since it is now contained in the bill, but we have been concerned that a proactive approach to pay equity may not be the best approach to root out wage discrimination where it does exist.
The government has clearly committed to it, and our concern, which we have raised repeatedly, is that this may be a costly and potentially overly bureaucratic solution that many not close the wage gap.
I reflect back to the Special Committee on Pay Equity. I presented on behalf of employers at that table. Some representatives from Statistics Canada presented shortly before me, and they indicated some data that I thought was particularly useful. They indicated that we have a wage gap. When they looked at the sectors of Ontario, Quebec and the federal sector, they indicated there is a wage gap in Canada, and I think we all agree that's a problem. They also indicated that the wage gap is narrowing. That's a good thing, but it's not narrowing at a fast enough rate. What is most interesting about the data that StatsCan presented was that the gap in wage rates in the Ontario, the Quebec and the federal models was essentially narrowing at the same rate.
We recognize the current approach we use, the complaints-based model, is not working as effectively as it could be. The question we raised is why we would throw it all out and replace it with something that isn't proving to be any more effective than the current model that we're using. I'm happy to talk specifics about the bill, if you have questions later.
The last thing I'll talk about is the changes to part III of the Canada Labour Code. The fundamental issue that we've had throughout this process, as it relates to part III of the code and the minimum labour standards that exist therein, is that we think the government has largely applied a provincial lens to the federal sector, and they're really not the same. The point we've made is that in some cases we're solving a problem that actually doesn't exist. The government speaks a lot about precarious and vulnerable workers. While we do recognize that issue does exist in the country, it's largely an issue that exists within provincially regulated sectors. In fact, the government's own data indicates this. The government's own data, in its discussion paper leading up to these changes to part III of the code, indicates that the vast majority of jobs in the federal sector are permanent, full-time unionized jobs with full pensions and benefits, and many exist in the context of a mature collective bargaining system.
Bill C-86 introduced a series of changes to the code that are going to raise the standards. The challenge this presents to us, as large employers, is that it will create a couple of key challenges. We think it's going to create conflicts in collective agreements where similar provisions already exist, and what might happen when that conflict emerges; and second, we are worried about the inflationary pressure that elevating labour standards over here for what is a small group of employees may have over here for the bulk of the federal sector.
I'll leave it at that, and I'm happy to take your questions. Thanks you for your time.