Madam Chair, I am very happy that you have invited us today to hear our point of view on a social debate that is of extreme importance, namely that of achieving pay equity.
The CSN represents some 300,000 workers across Canada, who are in very large part concentrated in Quebec. However, some 15,000 of our members are under federal jurisdiction, particularly in the communications, interprovincial transportation, grain elevator and prison sectors.
Bill C-10, in our point of view, is a major affront to the fundamental right of women to recognition of the value of their work, and women have more than one reason to feel offended.
First of all, the government is redefining the very notion of job category so that it can limit the concept of predominantly female job category to jobs that have over 70% women in them. It thus subordinates the right of women to equal pay for work of equal value to the simple wish of their employers.
The bill actually adds to the job evaluation criteria recognized throughout the literature and in all proactive legislation respecting pay equity criteria that reflect the needs of employers pertaining to recruitment and retention of labour. This of course has nothing to do with the imperatives of pay equity—quite the contrary. Pay discrimination is thus allowed if it is justified by market conditions. This is totally unacceptable.
Not satisfied, the government is returning this right to the area of the negotiable, instead of forcing the establishment of actual pay equity programs and ensuring they are maintained. This is therefore no longer a right to have respected, but a working condition to be negotiated. Finally, the responsibility for results will be up to not only employers but also union organizations. Indeed, the bill confers on the Public Service Commission, an agency that has no specific expertise on these issues, the power to determine a compensatory amount to anyone who has been adversely affected. It could force a union to pay part of this amount. So organizations would become responsible for the payment of wages. Clearly this is nonsensical, and we must denounce it and continue to challenge it.
Equally obnoxious is the government's prohibiting union organizations from encouraging women to file complaints and from representing them to obtain justice. But how can the government, in the preamble of the act, state that Parliament feels that women in the federal public sector should receive equal pay for performing work of equal value, and also state that it recognizes that it is desirable to achieve this objective proactively, while proposing such a legislative framework?
Consequently, we are going to ask the government to withdraw these particular provisions on pay equity for the federal public service and to subscribe to the development of a real proactive law on pay equity that will benefit all employees governed by the Canada Labour Code.
Thank you.