The PSAC Union Cries "Ouch"

Since 1984, the Public Service Alliance Union of Canada (PSAC) has vigorously pursued pay equity for its members through the Federal Human Rights Commission and the courts. It has relentlessly demanded that the salaries of female union members be adjusted to match those of men whose work was deemed to be of equal value. (Note: not equal work - that would be too simple and too sensible.) Such "value" would be determined by a vague and arbitrary system, established by the Human Rights Commission.

Of course, the Commission, whose methodology is accurately described as "gobbledygook," ultimately decided that the wages of 50,000 current female employees and 140,000 former employees had to be adjusted at a payout of $3.6 billion. (See Reality, September/October, 1998, "High Noon for Pay Equity," p. 11). The Globe and Mail in an editorial (August 28, 1998) described this crazy decision by the Human Rights Commission as the "Equity Week Horror."

PSAC Union President, Daryl Bean, however, a hero to the ladies of PSAC, just smirked at the taxpayers' horrified screams at the prospect of this extraordinary payout to the members. He knew that his union would not have to make a similar payout to its own employees as PSAC employees were covered by provincial pay equity laws, which provide for a lesser settlement than one paid to federal public servants, governed by the notorious federal Human Rights Act.

PSAC employees, however, were not stupid. They insisted that the union uphold the principle of pay equity enshrined in the federal case. As a result, the union ended up applying the federal model of pay equity to its employees. This has led to the union now teetering on the brink of bankruptcy. To avoid bankruptcy, the union has been obliged to seek a four dollar per month increase in union dues. PSAC, however, already charges from $40 to $50, some of the highest dues of the 17 federal unions.

It is not surprising that Mr. Bean has now declined to run for President of his union next year.

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