UNW rejects new offer on pay equity dispute

ANNETTE BOURGEOIS
Nunatsiaq News

IQALUIT ­ GNWT Finance Minister John Todd says the GNWT will spend $25 million to compensate hundreds of female civil servants who’ve been taking home less salary than their male counterparts for more than 10 years .

But Jackie Simpson, the president of the Union of Northern Workers, said that doesn’t come close to the $100 million the union wants and has rejected the offer.

The two parties are at loggerheads again in a dispute over equal pay for equal work that has spanned a decade.

Todd announced Monday that his government is prepared to settle the dispute with the UNW during collective agreement negotiations, which began Monday.

Simpson, shortly after hearing the minister’s proposal, maintains that the UNW will not discuss any pay equity settlement that’s tied to contract negotiations.

$25 million in retroactive pay

Todd proposes to spend $25 million in a one-time, retroactive pay equity settlement, $9 million in ongoing costs to maintain pay equity for current and future employees and $6 million in other costs associated with contract negotiations.

It’s this package he presented to the union Monday morning.

“We’d like to patch it all together,” Todd said during a press conference in Yellowknife Monday. “That maximizes, if you want, the dollars we put in the hands of northerners in the short-term in the retroactivity pay, and long term in the ongoing pay equity expenditures.”

Simpson, however, said the issues will remain separate.

“Pay equity is a very different issue and a very different negotiating table,” she said. “I thought it was made very clear, as close as last week, that we were not prepared to mix the two.”

Despite the UNW’s firm stance on this point, Todd said he’s hoping to reach a deal with the union by March 31, when the collective agreement between the GNWT and the UNW expires. Mediated talks between the parties on the pay equity issue broke down recently after months of talks.

Nurses, secretaries to get more

Under a new job evaluation, the GNWT proposes to increase the salaries of traditionally lower-paid employees, such as nurses and secretaries. Todd said this will cost the GNWT $9 million in ongoing costs.

The one-time retroactive pay equity settlement, which the government suggests is $25 million, would be determined using this system.

For example, a school secretary who has worked for the GNWT since 1989-90 would receive about $6,200 in retroactive pay.

A community health nurse employed by the GNWT for the past decade would receive about $14,400. A court reporter working during that same period would get back pay of about $13,100.

The UNW hasn’t accepted this new job evaluation system.

“They did not involve the people affected,” Simpson explained. “This is a one-sided study.”

Must be affordable

Last week Simpson said the union is prepared to ask the Human Rights Commission to impose a settlement if talks remain deadlocked.

It’s an alternative that Todd said could be devastating to the GNWT. He says, on the other hand, that his $40 million package is affordable.

“If we cannot come to an negotiated arrangement that’s affordable and a third party decides what it should be, and it’s not an affordable situation, it will mean further downsizing and further program cuts,” Todd warned.

Todd said his government could come up with the $40 million through “creative management” which wouldn’t involve more program cuts.

He said the settlement the union wants ­ an amount he suggests is close to $200 million ­ is unreasonable.

Simpson called Todd’s figure “inflated” and said the union is asking for only half that amount.

“I didn’t suggest that $100 million had to be paid tomorrow, but we did wish to talk about conditions,” she said of the negotiations, adding that amount is based on a 1989 joint equal pay study that involved the GNWT.

Todd wants UNW members to vote on deal

Todd suggested the union executive call for a vote of its membership on his deal.

“There’s a significant amount of dollars being put in the hands of northern people and I think that’s an important issue here,” he said.

A large percentage of $25 million in retroactive pay could end up in southern pockets, however, because a large number of people entitled to that money may no longer live in the North.

“I don’t have today a clear, defined percentage of the people who are North and the people who are South,” Todd said.

“The reality is you have an obligation and responsibility to pay these people, whether they live in Mississauga or they live in Grise Fiord.”

Simpson said the issue of retroactive pay does not affect the entire union membership and it would likely never go to a vote.