Pay Equity Review Committee Update

The joint pay equity committee has met weekly every Thursday since mid-October with one exception, November 29th. As of December 12^th there have been no disagreements between the parties. We are still waiting for the appointment of the arbitrator by the Minister of Labour.

Work Evaluations and Time Lines

• The consultants met and brought forward their draft of timelines to ensure the study is completed by the deadlines indicated in the Memorandum of Understanding. 

• Workplace visits have been held in Kanata, Woodlawn/Dunrobin, Kinburn and Fitzroy Harbour to give the consultants an initial idea of the work. The parties will be looking at how much geographical representation will be needed to ensure an accurate data capture of the different aspects of work performed. 

• The consultants are working on job profiles which are expected to be completed by the end of January. The job profiles are the different types of jobs within the RSMCs and the male comparator. There will possibly be a dozen different profiles, for example an RSMC route that has a corporate vehicle or a route that has to provide their own relief. 

• Once this is completed, they will have sufficient information about the work to propose methods for valuing the work. The consultants have set a goal of having this next step done by the end of February.

The Comparator 

• Under the law the comparator group must be within the same establishment and must be at least 55% male. CPC has provided the Union with the demographic information and the consultants are considering the male-predominant comparator for the evaluation.

The largest comparator is letter carriers as they number over 17,000. The CPC consultant has suggested considering Mail Despatchers (PO5s) but as they number only 1,400 they would count for less than one-tenth of the weight of the letter carriers.

Work Assessment vs Hours Of Work 

• There is a need to understand the elements of RSMC and letter carrier work that count in determining regular hours. For example “What constitutes a full time job?” Some RSMCs RMS hours are set at 6 or 6 ½ hours per day with their PCIs outside of the RMS hours. While a full time letter carrier is assessed at 8 hours per day when pay for time not worked is considered, letter carriers are also under 8 hours. This process has started but more exploration and information is required. This will continue in January.

Total Compensation

The committee is working on a methodology of comparing total compensation. It is important to find a clear and concise way of comparing the compensation models and capture all aspects of total compensation

In a short period of time the pay equity committee has successfully completed some key aspects of the review. It is important that we carefully lay the ground work before the committee goes out and speaks with and surveys the members to ensure an accurate evaluation.

More information will be provided on a regular basis.

In solidarity,