Thank you, Chair.
This is an amendment that was proposed by CUPE, again, a union with extensive experience in litigating failures of pay equity in the absence of federal pay equity legislation.
The fact that we have not had proactive federal pay equity legislation means that it has had to be fought by one employee at a time, by one union at a time, until the Conservatives legislated against the ability for unions to bring pay equity complaints on their own, putting an even further burden on the individual worker. No wonder we have such a pay gap in Canada still.
This was the testimony that the committee received from CUPE. They said proactive pay equity legislation needs to include an overall standard of non-discrimination for all of the elements of a pay equity plan and its application. There should be an obligation on the employer to ensure that no element of a pay equity plan is discriminatory on the basis of gender and that all elements are applied on a gender-neutral basis.
They recommended that proposed section 12, which sets out a general obligation on the employer to establish a pay equity plan in accordance with the act, should be amended to provide for an overall standard of non-discrimination for pay equity plans. This is the remedy that was recommended, that there be a subsection and that the subsection should read:
Every employer must ensure that the pay equity plan does not discriminate on the basis of gender and that it is applied in a gender neutral way.
Thank you, Chair.