2011-05-04

$2.5-million pay-equity plan approved for Gazette workers

Pay equity has finally come to The Gazette after a decade of haggling, legal appeals and countless hours of work by an employer-employee committee. Back pay and penalties that will be paid to workers amount to $2.5 million.

"We're pleased that this process is finally finished and that pay equity has been achieved," says Mona Leroux, president of the Montreal Newspaper Guild, who sat on the committee as an employee representative. "I realize that not everyone will be happy with the result, but the committee worked diligently to arrive at this pay-equity plan."

The plan just recently received the stamp of approval from Quebec's Pay Equity Commission.

David Wilson, the CWA Canada staff representative who has been involved with the pay-equity file in Montreal since the beginning in January 2000, says workers who were "grossly underpaid" will now be properly compensated, some as much as $50,000.

Clerical jobs were the source of some of the greatest discrepancies, says Wilson. Pay increases range from one to 20 per cent and are retroactive to Nov. 21, 2001, the original deadline for The Gazette to comply with provincial legislation.

It could take some time to track down everyone who's entitled to receive a payout, says Wilson. He cites the example of the Reader Sales & Service phone room (it closed in 2008) where many workers came and went over seven years.

The raises aren't going solely to women. Wilson says some males who work in female-dominated departments such as the business office, will be getting an increase.

At the outset, the committee evaluated 73 jobs and had to construct a rating system that would pass muster with the commission. Those sessions bogged down in 2003 when The Gazette "threw up roadblocks" with complaints to the commission and appeals to the courts, says Wilson.

Many companies put the process on hold in 2006, when it was thought the legislation would be revisited. "A lot of employers were hoping the legislation would be vastly changed or eliminated," says Wilson. It wasn't.

The committee at The Gazette restarted the process last August and concluded two weeks ago, says Wilson. The rating system they had devised was considered deficient by the commission, which then sent an employee to work with the committee to modify the plan to its satisfaction.