Status of Women Committee on April 12th, 2010

[Tom Dufresne]

As I stated, in New Westminster, Local 502, there's a list of approximately 286 people. Out of those, 83 are women waiting to be hired. Under the proposal that BCMEA has put forward, they would be eliminated. They would be bypassed. We believe that's wrong. Many of those people have undergone testing and training and have gone out to better equip themselves to do those jobs. Some have gone out and joined gyms and what have you.

We also believe some of the barriers can be taken out, such as the lashing tests that the BCMEA insisted on. To get past that barrier, Local 502 simply refused to do the lashing test. They said no. They said they weren't going to make women go through the lashing test and that it was not necessary for them to do it to perform the jobs they were going to perform. Yet they can do it if they so choose; they made it optional.

Also, Ms. Marynuik paints a pretty bleak picture and a very misleading picture. The only local where they have problems with resolving human rights complaints is in the Port of Vancouver, where the BCMEA controls the dispatch. In Local 502, on the Fraser River, they have what's called a pre-dispatch, where people sign up for jobs the day before and make themselves available. Prince Rupert has about 95% telephone dispatches, which are done ahead of time. On Vancouver Island, almost 100% of dispatches are done ahead of time.

What they're doing is citing some very bleak figures to try to paint this oppressive picture.

[Scott Simms, Liberal, Bonavista—Gander—Grand Falls—Windsor, NL]

Okay, Mr. Dufresne. If I could go back to my original point, then, you think the current system is fine as far as your industry is concerned. The question is, would you consider more options to encourage women to get involved in this one?

But can you please keep your response brief? I don't have a lot of time and I'd like to get a response from the others.

[Tom Dufresne]

Yes. Because it's not just about bringing people into the workforce. You have to give them the proper training. You have to make them feel comfortable.

Like Ms. O'Donnell has stated, we need to do an audit. If you bring people in there and you don't have proper washrooms and proper lunchrooms for them, and you don't give them proper training, they say the—

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

We have one and a half minutes left in this round.

[Tom Dufresne]

We want to make them participate--not just be numbers.

[Barbara Byers]

Can I just add to that very quickly because I've been very quiet?

[Scott Simms, Liberal, Bonavista—Gander—Grand Falls—Windsor, NL]

Yes, and I do want to get answers from the others, too.

[Barbara Byers]

Just on the question of women in politics, part of the work that the CLC can do with women who are in the longshore is to work with them on the questions of community activism, political activism, and activism within their union.

[Scott Simms, Liberal, Bonavista—Gander—Grand Falls—Windsor, NL]

Absolutely.

[Barbara Byers]

How do you get elected and how do you end up taking office? That's part of our work.

[Scott Simms, Liberal, Bonavista—Gander—Grand Falls—Windsor, NL]

That goes to the elections that you're talking about here.

Go ahead.

[Eleanor Marynuik]

I'd just like to respond to some of your comments, Mr. Simms.

First of all, the number one barrier to women entering the longshore industry is exactly the dispatch system. For anybody who—

[Scott Simms, Liberal, Bonavista—Gander—Grand Falls—Windsor, NL]

That wasn't my comment, but go ahead.

[Eleanor Marynuik]

I think you did make a comment about the dispatch system and women having to go in on a shift-by-shift basis type of thing, did you not?

[Scott Simms, Liberal, Bonavista—Gander—Grand Falls—Windsor, NL]

Well, no, but I think that's where you were... All I'm getting at is the system by which people apply. That's all.

[Eleanor Marynuik]

Apply for a shift...?

[Scott Simms, Liberal, Bonavista—Gander—Grand Falls—Windsor, NL]

Yes, whereas you don't have to physically be there--

[Eleanor Marynuik]

That's right. That is the dispatch system.

[Scott Simms, Liberal, Bonavista—Gander—Grand Falls—Windsor, NL]

Okay. That's fair enough.

[Eleanor Marynuik]

It is the number one barrier that prevents women from entering the longshore industry.

As I had painted in my picture, to go out into the dispatch hall three times a day to register yourself for work does not in itself bode well for women entering the industry at all.

[Greg Vurdela]

I would just add these quick comments.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Very quickly, Mr. Vurdela.

[Greg Vurdela]

Recruitment is on a fifty-fifty basis by the collective agreement, which we can't unilaterally change ourselves. When we get a failing grade as BCMEA, in fact we all get a failing grade. Our proposals are about going forward and leaving our failing grades as an industry—and I mean both sides of it—behind us, because it is a fifty-fifty process.

As well, on the benefit side, it might interest the committee to know that benefits are jointly trusteed, so they are trusteed plans, and they are trusteed by three union folks on one side and three employer folks on the other. These people make the decision on benefits. They go forward on recommendations and those recommendations are then adopted by the parties. That's how the process works, and the benefits are... In fact, there are four plans: two pension plans and two health and benefit plans, and they are all jointly trusteed.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Thank you. That's the end of that round.

Thank you, Mr. Simms.

Thank you, Mr. Vurdela.

Now we'll go to the Conservatives, with Mr. Calandra.

[Paul Calandra, Conservative, Oak Ridges—Markham, ON]

I apologize. I'm losing my voice.

I'm sorry, but I'm in a somewhat landlocked riding, so a lot of these issues are a bit new to me. When you talk about being dispatched, you mean that they go to a place and they're dispatched every day for work. Is there any sense that if you're dispatched one day, the next day you're not? How does that work? Is there any consideration given to that?