Thank you, Chair.
This is another amendment proposed by the equal pay coalition. They described proposed section 21, regarding voting in the pay equity committees, this way, that the votes must be unanimous or else they forfeit the right to vote, and then the employer's decision prevails. They described this as a very “concerning and peculiar” requirement, particularly given the complexities of some enterprises and the number of bargaining units or groups of employees involved. They said that this section fails to fulfill the 2004 task force recommendations on employee participation.
The task force recommended “that the new federal pay equity legislation provide that all employees, whether unionized or not, have the right to participate in pay equity implementation and maintenance”. As they said in their testimony to you, the task force also recommended “that where employer and employee representatives on the pay equity committee disagree, the dispute is submitted to the proposed Canadian Pay Equity Commission...to assist the parties to resolve the dispute”. Failing that, the commission would make a decision.
In the Quebec legislation, there's no requirement for unanimity. A majority agreement is required. They recommended that there should be an amendment to bring this in line with Quebec's approach.