There are two things that I think we hear as a union representing federal public sector workers. Employers are not fulfilling their requirements under duty to accommodate. The number of grievances and complaints that we're required to do...and this is when we have legislation in place where employers have a responsibility and a duty to accommodate in the federal public service, and it's not happening.
If you look at the diversity task force report that Ms. Lamba referenced earlier, you see the other issue we have is staffing. I will tell you as a union representative that I have had members come to me who say they are in a staffing pool. They've identified as a person with a disability or an equity-seeking member. They were the last one left in the pool, and guess what, they closed the pool because there wasn't enough in there. This is the reality of what's happening to equity-seeking members in the federal public sector. This is the reality of what's happening with persons with disabilities because of the perception that it's going to cost thousands to accommodate someone when it could be as simple as providing software to enable them to do voice to text.
I want to say one quick thing. We were talking about representation on the board. Yes, we need representation from persons with disabilities. We need representation from people like Professor Prince who have that academic background. As bargaining agents in the federal public service, we spend a lot of time representing our members, and we have the expertise. I also believe that we should have a seat at that table just as we do under the Employment Equity Act, where the employer is not just required to consult with us, but to collaborate with us, which is a whole different level from consultation.