Seeking a Balance

Tribunal decision comes a little closer as the evidence-gathering phase concludes

After nearly ten years, some fifty witnesses, nine hundred exhibits and 44,910 pages of transcripts, the Human Rights Tribunal hearing this complaint has finally concluded the evidence gathering stage of its hearings.  This complaint itself is now nearly twenty years old having been filed in 1983.  The complaint alleges that employees in the former CR Group at Canada Post were not paid equally with the inside and outside POs. 

The next stage involves the preparation of written arguments by the PSAC, the Canadian Human Rights Commission (CHRC) and Canada Post Corporation (CPC).  Following an exchange of written arguments, the parties will be allowed an opportunity to present oral arguments before the Tribunal in the spring of 2003.  Once the oral arguments have been presented, the Tribunal will then proceed to write a decision, a process which will take several months to a year to complete.  

While publicly supporting the principle of equal pay for work of equal value, Canada Post’s actions in this case suggest otherwise.  CPC severely criticized the work of the CHRC and PSAC job evaluation experts as unreliable.  However, Canada Post did not do its own analysis to see if there is a wage gap, despite the fact that at least one expert witness called by Canada Post advised the Tribunal that a reliable study could have been conducted for less money than was paid to criticize the PSAC’s work.  Another expert in job evaluation called by Canada Post advised the Tribunal that he could have done a reliable study in three to four months but was not asked to do so by the Corporation.