Thank you, Dr. Fry, Madam Chair.
My name is Tom Dufresne and I am the president of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Canada. I've held this position for some 14 years now.
With me are Barb Byers, the executive vice-president of the Canadian Labour Congress, and Susan O'Donnell, who is the executive director of the B.C. Human Rights Coalition and is advising ILWU and our members on processes going forward to improve the working life in the workplaces on the coast, not only for women but also for men.
The ILWU represents approximately 5,500 people who work at the Pacific coast ports. We've distributed a backgrounder to all the committee members and the translators; hopefully, you all have a copy.
We welcome your initiative and are pleased to appear before you today. Your session helps to shine the light on our industry, which is beginning to open its doors to women. It's a slow but steady process that will benefit from free collective bargaining and will suffer if free collective bargaining is stifled. We have made some progress, but much more needs to be done.
In recent years, this fact has been underscored. For example, in 2008, the BCMEA, the B.C. Maritime Employers Association, earned the lowest grade possible from the Canadian Human Rights Commission for failing to meet expectations concerning women's participation in our workplace.
I know that your committee is looking at three specific aspects of women in non-traditional jobs: recruitment, barriers to participation, and retention. We will focus our remarks on these areas.
It is our view that the best and most equitable way to recruit new workers to our industry is through a gender-balanced recruiting process, whereby equal numbers of men and women are recruited on a local-by-local basis--a fifty-fifty approach, if you will. That is subject to negotiation on a local-by-local basis, because what's good in one local might not work in another.
For instance, in the Port of Vancouver, which represents about 60% of the workforce in British Columbia, what would achieve the best results there is not necessarily the same as what would be best in Fort Simpson. We also have agreements that represent the Nisga'a in northern of British Columbia and we wouldn't want to go in there and dictate any type of process to them. We work with the bands as well, Bella Bella and Bella Coola, to recruit people to work. They work in their own specific areas and are allowed to travel.
Also, in a couple of locals, we have lists of people who have applied in the past when there was hiring being done. It's our view and our position that those lists should be exhausted prior to opening this up for new hiring. Some of these people have taken the tests in the past. They might not have passed the tests, but they were given a chance to go out and correct whatever deficiencies they might have, to allow them to come in, take the test again, and try to pass.
For instance in Local 502, which is on the Fraser River and represents all of the docks up and down the Fraser River and at Deltaport and Westshore, there's a list of approximately 286 people. Of those 286, 83 are women. We're saying that to cast those 83 people aside and do a new recruitment process to put a bunch of people in the workforce would be unfair to those people, although we are prepared to discuss it, as I said, on a local-by-local basis.
This is a policy that the union has advanced for a number of years in our discussions with our employers. Unfortunately, since the vast majority of additional recruiting is done jointly with the employer, we have not been able to see this policy fully implemented. It is our goal to achieve a fifty-fifty recruitment process, as I said, once these lists are exhausted.
Having said this, I note that there are serious barriers to overcome in order to create the right conditions to increase the participation of women in our workplaces. I'll ask Susan to address these issues.
Thank you.