Female Postal Workers Win Unequal Pay Case
November 18, 2011 No Comments
Justice is served, although it took 28 years to get there. Women of the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) were reinstated $150 million for unequal pay today after a long battle that began in 1983. The PSAC filed a complaint after they found that male clerical workers were getting paid more than female workers for the same jobs.
Technically, the case was won in 2005 when a tribunal sided with the workers. But it was overturned by the Federal Court and later the Federal Court of Appeals. Finally the Supreme Court sided with the first decision in what was a unanimous vote.
The question is, how does this really bring justice to all those women who were paid unfairly? Twenty-eight years is a long time. Some of those women are gone, others are retired. It will be tricky to spread the $150 million. Fortunately in 2002, the wage gap was eliminated by a negotiated pay increase.
This decision is a great step in a direction we should have arrived at years ago. It gives me hope for other cases, like the suit against Walmart in the US. The Walmart case deals with the complaints of 1.5 million women whereas this one dealt with 2,300. Hopefully they can use the PSAC case as hope and motivation that justice is attainable.
Contact the author here: jennY@morningquickie.com
