I believe I appeared before the committee to speak on the Public Sector Equitable Compensation Act. It was implemented in the Budget Implementation Act and enacted on March 12 of this year. It was all very recent, and we don't yet have any numbers to base an analysis on.
With respect to that act, I will say that it prevents public sector workers in female-dominated groups from filing complaints with the Human Rights Commission . It does that through a whole host of mechanisms.
First, it increases the threshold of what is considered a female-dominated group from 55% to 70%, which virtually eliminates all the outstanding complaints that we have. It obliges the worker to go ahead on her own, without union support, to present her complaint. You could hire a lawyer, but pay equity complaints, being highly technical, often last a long time. The system under the Human Rights Commission is not perfect, but it provides results and representation.
The act also bars unions from recommending that their members move ahead with a pay equity complaint, from supporting them in their complaint, and from providing them with representation. For example, if I were to have a discussion with a member and say to her that she should file a pay equity complaint, the union could be fined $50,000. So the union would be fined for doing its job, which, in my opinion, is to represent its members.
With respect to modernizing the pay equity system, we're critical of the new legislation. We are challenging it in the courts. We believe it's unconstitutional. We believe it violates women's human rights. We feel it's a regressive piece of legislation that's trying to roll the clock back for federal public sector workers in female-dominated bargaining units.