Look what they're doing to women in the public service of Canada

I just got off the phone with Judy Wasylycia-Leis from Ottawa and it was a pretty discouraging conversation. She's watching women's rights fall by the wayside, and that's tough for somebody who's fought for these rights over a lifetime. Moreover, there aren't many people standing with the Manitoba New Democrat on this one - a blow when you thought certain rights had become part of the fabric of the nation.

The unravelling of rights is exactly what's happening with the Conservatives' new "Equitable Compensation Act." There's an Orwellian title for you - like the Patriot Act. The change the Conservatives slipped into the recent budget - after failing last year - has nothing to do with equitable pay. In fact, it's the opposite. It removes any chance women in the federal civil service have of fighting for pay equity by denying them the right to complain to the Human Rights Commission, or to go to court, when they believe there is discrimination. Instead, pay equity issues are to be solved as part of the regular bargaining process but - get this! - if anyone agitates on the basis of pay equity, they face a $50,000 fine. So the Conservative regime is forbidding a woman from fighting for herself and, simultaneously, penalizing her union from fighting for her.

Once this legislation is passed, a woman working in the federal public service will have fewer rights than women working elsewhere in Canada.

"We fought this battle so hard 30 years ago,"  Wasylycia-Leis said in an interview with the Decoder, "and I never thought we'd lose what we won. It's shocking. They are taking it away in one fell swoop with the stroke of a pen . . . It hurts."

There is still a way to stop it, she says. The act is part of the budget legislation and Wasylycia-Leis and her NDP colleagues are trying to divide it off into a separate bill that would then face its own vote in the House that, hopefully, wouldn't be a non-confidence motion. If the Liberals and (one would think) the Bloc unites with the NDP, it could be defeated. The act should be in committee the week of February 23 and the House not long after.

Wasylycia-Leis says she's embarrassed men in other parties haven't fought harder for such a basic right for women. Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff, she argues, could have refused to support a budget that contains this new pay equity regime, instead of demanding only  progress reports.   "Maybe," she said, "they're not aware what this does to women." She is a veteran politican, who went from local activism and a spot on Howard Pawley's NDP provincial team to federal politics. "This is completely ideological with the Conservative government," she added, noting Prime Minister Stephen Harper began attacking pay equity years ago when he was director of the right-wing National Citizens Coalition and his party voted against it last year at their convention.

I know I've covered this topic before in the Decoder, but I find it so mind-boggling. In hearings yesterday in Ottawa, a Treasury Board official wasn't able to show Ottawa that any money would be saved under this new "equitable compensation" plan. But that's not the point anyway. It's about the rights of women to fight what they see injustice and - if they are proven correct - to have the injustice removed.

If the media wrote about any other group of people (you fill in the blank) being denied the right to even appeal to the Canadian Human Rights Commission, I'd like to believe there'd be an uproar in this country. Well, that's what they are doing. Right now. And there's no uproar. How can this be in Canada in 2009? It feels like we are going backwards. It doesn't feel good; it feels scary.

In Question Period all week, Wasylycia-Leis tangled both with government officials and urged Liberals to oppose the act. Here's a taste of her comments from Monday:

"We entered political life to make a difference. One way to make a difference was to ensure some measure of pay equity was being enforced right across this country. I cannot believe that the Liberals are going to sit here today and let this go down the tubes. I cannot believe that they are going to let the women of this country down simply because they got boxed in by some stupid response to this Conservative budget, which does not deserve to to be supported for one second of the day. I cannot believe it.

I may be emotional today, but I have been involved in the women's movement for some 30-40 years. When we started working in the women's movement it was not just to be patsies for the men or for a right-wing macho party like the Conservative Party. It was to stand up for women, to stand up and be counted and make sure that the laws of the land respected and reflected the great diversity of this land and the values of this country. At the heart of that is equality and justice. At the heart of equality and justice is pay equity, and what pay equity means is equal pay for work of equal value."

Here's a  longer sample of Monday's Question Period. And a taste of  Tuesday's  and today's questioning by Wasylycia-Leis.

Comments

[Piper]

I wonder if Stephen Harper's wife, Laureen, has an opinion on this....hmmmmm......probably not. As a woman who once owned her own business, I guess she didn't have to worry about pay equity. Come to think of it, I don't think I have ever seen her express an opinion on anything other than the SPCA. If only OUR first lady would take an active role like Michelle Obama.

[David Guy]

Linda, are you for equality or women's rights? There are lots of professions where women now outnumber men (nursing, for one example). The Star reported earlier this week that with the current recession, women are surpassing men in the workforce. This is largely due to male-dominated fields like manufacturing laying off thousands of workers while female-dominated professions like health sciences and humanities are hiring. I notice you didn't comment on that in your blog. Hmmm.

[Dianna K. Goneau Inkster]

Where were you when human rights were being denied to Ontario Works clients and to the dependents of Ontario Disability Support Programme clients? They must sign away their human right to choose work. They do not receive the minimum wage. They will not get EI hours from their workfare job. They do not qualify for workmen's comp if they are injured on the job. They are evaluated by their employer, not by employees of Ontario Works on the Ontario Disability Support Programme office. For further information on one man's struggle to have his human rights respected, please google "Quixote's Horse" and click on "workfare". The tale there revealed exposes an incredible human rights abuse over the past decade and a half. Wayne Coppin's Case goes before the Social Benefits Tribunal on Tuesday,February 24, 2009, at the Kingston Holiday Inn at 9 am. Silent support is welcome. A letter supporting Wayne and calling for a serious review of the OW Act is also very welcome.

[Stefania]

As a young woman and a Canadian citizen, I am outraged and disgusted at the Conservatives for creating this quote-unquote
"Equitable Compensation Act" - which is anything but equitable.

I plan to make my voice heard, and hopefully other women (and men) will see this eye-opening article, and together, we will be able to prevent this plan from ever coming to fruition. I am shocked that in this day in age, women are still fighting for their rights....and I am especially appalled at the fact that now we are in danger of having our rights taken away.

Hopefully this legislation will not pass....but only time will tell.

[Emily]

I'm horrified, I see the conservatives systematically taking away everything our mothers fought so hard for, this is not the first time. They sneak this stuff in with other legislation and no one cares. I just want to cry, why is no one saying anything? The unborn victims act, national childcare plan, 12 out of 16 Status of Women Canada (SWC) offices, the court challenges program, which helped women AND minorities fight for their rights, the National Association of Women and the Law (NAWL). The economy is bad so that it's justification for taking away these important protections. It's like during WWII, women were encouraged to enter the workforce and professional sports, but once the men came back from war they were expected to get back in the kitchen. Now that the boom is done we're being told in not so many words to get back to the kitchen, that the advances we've made have come at the expense of men (somehow?!?). We're being told that we should recuse ourselves and let the men take over, this is exactly what the Montreal engineering school shooter wanted, congratulations, Mr. Harper for carrying on that psycho's war.
You know why women's payrolls may soon exceed men? because no one's going to fire the cheap secretary that works over 60hrs a week for half the pay of the expensive male manager who insists on the privilege to work from home because it's snowing. This is the reality of being a woman in today's workforce, and it's only going to get worse. Thanks Harper, you are NOT my Prime Minister.

[Dave]

As a man who's seen the pendulum swing so far in favour of women to the detriment of the country as a whole I have so say this decision is insane. What's required is equitable treatment of citizens regardless of gender. This doesn't do that and simply continues the status quo. This is a terrible decision. We don't need to maintain gender politics, we need to put it to bed.

[JOECITIZEN]

HARPER ..... THE MASTER OF DOUBLE-SPEAK. CLEARLY THE MOST ETHICALLY AND MORALLY CORRUPT POLITICIAN IN MODERN CANADIAN HISTORY. HE IS A TOTALLY EMBARASSMENT TO OUR DEMOCRACY AND OUR CIVILIZED SOCIETY.

IF THERE IS A WAY TO LIE ..... HE WILL FIND IT.

[MensRightsNow]

More equality, less supremacy feminists.

[Geoffrey Laxton]

I would like to ask Judy Wasylycia-Leis:
How many female seniors do you figure had their retirement savings portfolios destroyed by the income trust tax you supported?

[J Linzel]

To David Guy;

I am a guy and even I can see you are totally missing the point. Equal pay for equal work is an issue totally separate from percentage of the sexes in the workforce. It may be true but it irrelevant to this issue. The fact that manufacturing in Canada is failing is a response to a global marketplace. All governments over the past number of decades have failed to see the importance of secondary and tertiary product improvement. We are a nation that has been happy to see our resources without adding secondary value. Now we don't have these industries and resources consumption has dried up. We wonder why we have the first trade deficit in over 30 years. A total lack of foresight. Our system encourages our leaders to ignore making the correct long term decisions to ensure short term re-election.
Harper has been either lying through his teeth [during the election - we do not face a deficit] or an incompetent economist. Either choice is unsettling. Dion, although not sexy and who ran a horrible campaign, at least had the guts to attempt an economic and environmental policy that had foresight. The same concepts of uniting economics, energy policy and environmental policy President Obama is instituting to our South. The problem with the policy is it was demonized not that it wasn't a good idea.
Harper is a politician first, governor last. Canada needs governing not politiking.

[Ken]

Show us where it says agitators for equity face a fine. I don't believe it. Sounds like someone wants to divert attention from the fact that no-one is being denied equity - they're just being asked to take it through another, far more sensible and less expensive channel. Achieving equity at the bargaining table makes perfect sense.

[Jubes]

David Guy, women have always outnumbered men in nursing. But men have outnumbered women as doctors, and that is by far the more glamorous and better-paid profession. Why is it that men do not want to become nurses if it is so wonderful hmmm? Women definitely do NOT outnumber men in the workforce today, even with the recession - check the numbers reported in the same Star article you're quoting. The two female workers featured in the article did not have well-paying or secure jobs with benefits like their husbands once had. Let's get realistic, the title of the article was extremelly misleading.

[Rachel]

Wow.

I've forwarded this widely; have written to the powers that be; and have asked my friends and family to do the same.

Times like these (and three years ago, when 12 of the 16 Status of Women offices were shuttered), I yearn for a central women's rights organization like the US's NoW. Where's the Canadian equivalent? If it exists, why isn't it being louder? Why aren't we organizing?

I realize I have responsibility to those questions, too.

Thanks for the column, Linda!

[Jimmy Vuong]

Response to Piper:
In the same article you mentioned, it mentioned that this would be a rare trend, similar to the WW2 event and that even though women outnumber men, they would end up being paid significantly less. Also, so what if there are fields that women dominate over men; take home-making as an example for the recent few thousand years of human history. What the fight is for is to have the right of choice and to be treated equally and to have the CHOICE to seek protection against discrimination as a given right OR, at the very least, the CHOICE to investigate and challenge the findings when discovered without fear of punishment.

Response to Wayne:
Linda was writing about an article about a current situation and a writer is entitled to pick and choose what she writes. It is quite annoying and counterproductive when comments aren't about the same topic and become a whining match. The more productive thing would be to say "Hey, I support your fight for equity because it is something seriously lacking still in our society which also includes equity for the disabled. Let's fight together." There's no need to compete... unless you are saying no one is allowed to push for equity advancement in their fields until YOUR field get it, do you? Just remember, a rising tide floats all boats.... Rise in equity in one area is more likely to help others

[Colleen M.]

Ken:
Read Monday's Question period transcript (link at top of page):

a quote:
JW-L: Let me set the record straight. There is no comparison between what the government is proposing and what is on the statutes in Manitoba. Instead in this federal system, under the Conservative government's proposals, there is no legislation that entrenches the notion of equal pay for work of equal value and there is no mechanism for appeals. The Conservatives are taking away the right to go to the Human Rights Commission. As my colleague from Beaches—East York pointed out, it also will fine people who actually advocate on behalf of employees who want their rights upheld. The Conservatives want to fine people maybe $50,000 if someone in the union decides that the complaint is worth pursuing and the woman was done an injustice and therefore needs some representation. Not only do the Conservatives take it away, but they penalize people for advocating on behalf of women.

[Dale Jameson]

I am a member of a group of over 400 Registered Nurses working for the federal government CPP disability program who currently have a complaint before the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal. We have been entangled in a battle with Social Development Canada and the Treasury Board for over 10 years. The CHR Tribunal has made a finding of gender discrimination, which the Treasury Board is currently appealing.

Our complaint is based on the fact that we are all Registered nurses and mostly female, doing a nursing job as recognized by our professional governing body, but the employer will not classify and treat us as nurses. Yet the doctors, who are predominately male and doing substantially similar work are given full professional recognition. Because our union did not support us (in fact they fought against us) we were forced to hire our own lawyer at our own expense and escalate our complaint to the Canadian Human Rights Commission.

My point is this, if it had not been for the commission and our ability to access this option we would not be given our day in court. We would not have been heard by a fair and impartial body and justice would not be served. Because our numbers are small in comparison to the large pay equity case 10 years ago, I feel that we are probably not even on the radar. It is a self serving and unjust piece of legislation. The Treasury Board is counting on this to avoid having to change itsʼ inequitable treatment of public servants. What's next, removing women's right to vote??

[dillon]

My granddaughters are equal in all ways to my grandsons. They do not need nor will they tolerate such affirmative action programs that JWLL claims to have fought for all her life. These programs are insulting to women and frankly are the bastion of the feminazis.

[Annie]

to Dale: While you may believe your granddaughters are equal to your grandsons, it's unfortunate that some employers choose not to recognize this fact. It's legislation that ensures that they are treated fairly.