In a long-awaited and unequivocal decision, the federal Pay Equity Commissioner has ruled in favour of all the unions that opposed Treasury Board's June 2022 request for a multiple pay equity plan.
The pay equity exercise for some 252,000 employees will have to be carried out by comparing all female-predominant job classes with male-predominant classes, regardless of whether the job is within the same bargaining unit or not.
Originally, Treasury Board had requested authorization from Commissioner Straznicky to divide job categories into three distinct plans:
- Public Service Alliance of Canada
- The Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada
- All other unions and unrepresented employees.
Had it been granted, such authorization would have limited the comparison of the female job categories represented by the Institute to the male job categories also represented by PIPSC.
It should be remembered that the purpose of pay equity legislation is to correct the wage gap between men and women by ensuring that the total remuneration of predominantly female jobs is compared with equivalent predominantly male jobs.
By forcing Treasury Board to create a single-pay equity committee, the committee will be able to ensure that it is not limited in its choice of male comparator jobs, and select those that are most appropriate, regardless of its original accreditation.
This is a major victory for the recognition of work performed mainly by women, and the first step towards closing the wage gap that still persists!