Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the negotiations between the Government of the Northwest Territories (GNWT) and the Union of Northern Workers (UNW) concluded on May 8, 1998 with the parties at an impasse. The GNWT has tabled a final settlement offer and invited the UNW to take the offer to its membership and let the members decide whether or not to accept it.
The UNW has taken the position that they will not negotiate rates of pay to implement the Hay Job Evaluation System and to settle the Pay Equity Complaint. The Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) negotiator from Ottawa said that he was instructed not to talk about pay equity at the bargaining table and they would not be taking the final settlement offer to the members.
During the last round of bargaining, the UNW proposed that the job evaluation process be referred to binding arbitration and that a southern arbitrator be selected to tell us whether or not the point ratings are bias free. This proposal was geared to take the implementation of the new job evaluation system off the bargaining table and move it to another legal process that would be in addition to the legal processes already in place. I believe, Mr. Speaker, that the UNW and its pay equity experts can review the evaluation process for themselves to decide whether the point ratings are bias free and do not require a southern arbitrator to do this. The GNWT and the UNW had signed off an agreement to do this at the second round of collective bargaining, but unfortunately, although the UNW had agreed to the review process, they chose not to attend.
At the last round of bargaining, the GNWT once again invited the UNW to participate in a joint review process. This offer was made because the only way the UNW can satisfy itself that the job evaluation process is bias free is by gaining an understanding of it. The UNW declined this offer.
The GNWT cannot sign an agreement that renews rates of pay knowing that there is a pay equity problem. It would be irresponsible for the GNWT to sign a collective agreement that then gives the UNW the opportunity to sue the GNWT for more money because there is a pay equity problem. The parties who were at collective bargaining created the pay equity problem. The parties at collective bargaining must resolve the problem. The GNWT negotiated as far as it could on all other outstanding issues. Many significant concessions were made by the negotiators to address employee and UNW issues.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to table the GNWT's final settlement offer. I believe you will agree that the offer is fair and there is absolutely no downside risk to employees and the UNW in the way that the new job evaluation system is to be implemented. Employees see only pay increases. No employee will see a decrease in pay. The offer provides pay equity payments that go beyond what the GNWT is legally obligated to pay.
The final settlement offer includes:
- A 2 percent to 31 percent wage increase in the first year;
- A 2 percent wage increase in the second year;
- Up to 5 percent annually in performance increments or bonus;
- $421 to $4,096 in Northern Allowance increases for employees outside of Yellowknife;
- An additional $500 lump sum Northern Allowance amount in each year for all employees;
- $790 to $33,199 in pay equity payments;
- Five mandatory leave days for continuous employees on the same basis as non-continuous employees;
- School year hours of work for dental therapists; and
- Many other significant improvements in benefits, rights and protection for employees such as shift premium increases for shift workers, a study on how to improve child care and a pro-active prevention strategy to deal with workplace conflict issues.
I believe employees should be given an opportunity to vote and I am confident the package would be accepted. The final settlement offer is generous and gives everyone more money, achieves pay equity and allows the GNWT to modernize its job evaluation system with absolutely no downside risk to any employee. It provides an environment of certainty for employees during the transition to two new public services on April 1, 1999.
Mr. Speaker, the matter is now between the UNW and its members who are our employees and our constituents. If employees are concerned with the impasse, they should talk to the UNW who is their legal bargaining agent. It is time for employees to make their stand on the issue known. They can do this by demanding a ratification vote. This would give them the opportunity to either support the UNW's strategy to use a long drawn out legal process to resolve pay equity or they can accept the final settlement offer and require the UNW to sign off a collective agreement and to work with the GNWT and employees to look for ways to improve the system and ensure pay equity is maintained in the future. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
--Applause