PSAC / UCTE and NAV CANADA have reached a pay equity settlement involving current and former members at the agency. The Canadian Human Rights Commission-approved settlement is applicable to employees who occupied a position in the CR2, CR3, CR4, CR5 and CR6, as well as ST-OCE-3, ST-SCY-1, ST-SCY-2, and ST-SCY-3 classifications at any time between November 1, 1996 and Jun 30, 2011.

NAV CANADA will be communicating with all current and former employees eligible for a pay equity adjustment at their last address on file in the coming weeks. If you believe you are an eligible employee but have not been contacted by NAV CANADA by February 15, 2021, please contact HREC-CERH@navcanada.ca or NavCanadaPayEquityequite-salariale@psac-afpc.com to inquire regarding a potential pay equity adjustment and ensure your most recent mailing address is on file with NAV CANADA.

The union’s complaint was filed in 2002 and was related to the pay equity settlement reached with Treasury Board in 1999. Transport Canada workers in some CR and ST classifications who transferred to the newly created NAV CANADA in November 1996 were no longer eligible for the Treasury Board pay equity adjustments even though their classifications and pay remained at pre-pay equity levels upon their transfer. The human rights complaint alleged that NAV CANADA had not met its obligations under the Canadian Human Rights Act to ensure equal pay for work of equal value for female predominant positions.

“It’s been a long struggle but our members working in female-dominated positions at NAV CANADA will finally receive the compensation they deserved,” said PSAC National President Chris Aylward. “When it comes to fighting for our members’ human rights, we will never give up.”

PSAC has a long history of making progress on pay equity for members. In addition to the historic settlement with Treasury Board in 1999, the union also reached pay equity settlements for thousands of members working in numerous separate employer agencies, for members working at the Government of the Northwest Territories in 2002 and won a 28-year-long case at the Supreme Court covering pay equity for thousands of members at Canada Post in 2011.

• How PSAC achieved the 1999 pay equity victory

UCTE wants to extend a special thank you to PSAC Legal Officer Helen Berry. She has worked diligently on this file for the members since 2003 and was able to see it through to the end. We thank her for her perseverance and dedication to our members.

New pay equity regulations in the works

Following years of advocacy by PSAC, the federal government finally passed pay equity legislation in 2018. The new law is an important milestone in advancing gender equality. It recognizes that pay equity is a human right and that employers have an obligation to eliminate gender-based discriminatory wage differences. Employers will be responsible for developing pay equity plans and must do so with the equal participation of worker representatives. The proactive approach enabled by this legislation means that long court battles should no longer be necessary to achieve pay equity in federally regulated workplaces.

PSAC continues to work with the government in developing regulations under the new pay equity law. The new legislation will only come into force once regulations are finalized.