Thank you, Chair.
This is an amendment that arises from the coalition again. This is all in relation to pay equity committees. I'll talk first about part (a) and (c) of the amendment on page 31 of this amendment package.
As described to the committee in testimony, the section to develop a pay equity committee they said is very weak. It's a very weak and limited obligation to create a committee. The current language does not deliver on a significant obligation to ensure that employees' voices are heard.
The act requiring the employer to establish a pay equity committee is what we want, but the language that says, “make all reasonable efforts to establish a pay equity” is not what we want. That is the effect of this amendment. The pay equity committee is a fundamental cornerstone to establishing a pay equity plan in the work. There are numerous sections with the very weak language of “reasonable efforts” and that raises—the witnesses said—the question of why the committees are not mandatory.
That's one big piece, and the effect of that first section would be simply to strike the words “make all reasonable efforts to”. Just say, you are to establish a pay equity committee, because it's such a fundamental part of the working of the legislation and to achieve the results that we hope and that collaboration between the employers and the employees.
The second chunk of effect of this is captured in parts (b), (d), (e), (f), (g) and (h) of our amendment. That references the witnesses' concern at the lack of access to a pay equity committee. They described it as most egregious for non-unionized employees. The requirement for a pay equity committee is voluntary in a workplace. Sorry, I didn't say that well.
This is the question of whether to establish a committee. The voluntary standard as written in the legislation right now, they said, significantly disenfranchises non-union employees.
Those are probably the two summaries. One is to remove the “reasonable efforts” and the other is to not have the pay equity committee be voluntary and particularly to recognize that having a voluntary standard would disenfranchise non-union employees.
Thank you, Chair.