Jeff Colbourne
Northern News Services

NNSL (Aug 03/98) - "The writing is on the wall."

That's Jackie Simpson's message to the GNWT following a ruling by the Canadian Human Rights tribunal last Wednesday that favored a Public Service Alliance of Canada's claim that the federal government pay system is gender biased.

"The GNWT now must know for sure that one way or another it's going to have to pay its work force what they deserve. The bill is not going to go away no matter how long they stall," said the Union of Northern Workers president.

The PSAC victory sets a precedent for the UNW's claim against the government and proves that the territorial pay system is also gender bias and that after 10-years of waiting it should be resolved.

Finance Minister John Todd said he is not dissatisfied with some of the recommendations of the judgments made by the tribunal.

"In the process, from what I can see, I think that our GNWT pay-equity settlement offer is good, if not better, than what the tribunal decision is in respect to the treasury board complaint," said Todd.

The GNWT's last settlement offer to resolve the issue worked out to about $40 million.

But Simpson said this tribunal decision -- which affects hundreds of thousands of past and current federal government employees, including about 150 federal clerks in the NWT -- shows that the government is way off the mark with its $40-million offer.

The cost to resolve the federal pay-equity dispute is expected to be substantially higher than the $1.3 billion offered by Ottawa to settle the problem.

The GNWT's pay-equity complaint is expected to go before a tribunal in the near future with pre-hearing dates slated for sometime in September.