On the issue of the wage gap going up and the tribunal cases going down, I don't even know how to answer that. Pay equity is not about the gender wage gap. I think you've heard that multiple times. I think there have never been many cases that have gone forward to the tribunal. In the initial stages, of course, when people were testing the system and how far the flexibility could go within the processes that were laid out, there was certainly much more jurisprudence. The cases that go to the tribunal now tend to be testing charter issues, law-related cases, and some of the maintenance requirements around the proxy method, which we didn't really talk about. That's very technical and it has had mixed results in Ontario, I'd say.
The fact that the gender wage gap is fluctuating really has nothing to do with the case level at the tribunal. I would say that the cases that go to the tribunal tend to take a long time because they're de novo, and usually they're union cases, in which, as I said, they're trying to test something out. Most of the issues resolve at our level, at the office level.
On the issue of the collective bargaining piece, I guess it depends which union you talk to. I would say most unions are averse to mixing collective bargaining with pay equity, because one is a human right and the other one is the normal give and flow of collective bargaining. Our act integrates those two concepts from the perspective that unions and employers are prohibited from bargaining anything that, if implemented, would bring about a contravention of the act. That's the prohibition, and then any pay equity agreement that results supersedes a collective bargaining agreement. That's how the two acts interact in Ontario.
If you were moving forward, I would maybe suggest that you look at some mechanism for tying those two processes together. They can still be distinct, but from a timing perspective it would be really advantageous, perhaps, if there were some ability to coordinate what happens at collective bargaining, and then relate it to a pay equity process.
I haven't run this by stakeholders, so I'm simply making a suggestion. You could do something like having a term in the collective bargaining agreement that is a sign-off on pay equity, that they've considered the pay equity consequences of a particular collective bargaining agreement. If there isn't a sign-off, then you could have a time frame within which to bring a complaint about pay equity, for instance, to the commission, so that there isn't a lot of overlap.
What we find in Ontario is that sometimes you will have three and four collective agreements, and then one of the unions will bring a pay equity complaint, and it makes it very difficult to go through several collective agreements to determine what the pay equity consequences are. Having some ability to bring those two together and yet keep them apart if the parties wish to do so would need to be respected. That being said, there are lots of employers and unions that have negotiated terms of reference regarding how they're going to deal with their pay equity issues. Those have evolved over time, so it would probably be good to consult with unions to determine some of the best practices if you are leaning in that direction.
The other question was around flexibility, and I don't recall what that involved.