Daniel MacIsaac
Northern News Services

NNSL (Feb 24/99) - As the date for their preliminary pay-equity hearing before the Canadian Human Rights Commission approaches, the GNWT and Union of Northern Workers are waging a battle of loyalties, and numbers.

As of last Wednesday, Herb Hunt, GNWT director of equal pay and negotiations, said more than 1,000 government workers had accepted the individual settlement packages.

But Barbara Wyness, the union's public relations and research officer, said Friday that many of the workers who received settlement offers aren't in female-dominated positions and therefore not due any settlement according to union methodology.

"Maybe the government has extra money it wants to give away," she said.

Hunt said the GNWT began receiving accepted offers Jan. 20 and that they are currently coming in at the rate of 10 a day.

"What their acceptance basically means is that they've withdrawn from the complaint and are not affected by the tribunal's decision," he said.

The Public Service Alliance of Canada filed the complaint with the tribunal late last year over failure to come to a pay-equity settlement, and a hearing in scheduled for Yellowknife from March 8 to 11 to review some of the government's preliminary objections.

Hunt said one such issue involves who the PSAC is representing. While the PSAC has said it is acting on behalf of the Union of Northern Workers and its membership, Hunt said this relationship has never been officially stated. He added that it is this confusion and uncertainty that is prompting workers to settle now.

"I think the reason they've gone ahead and done this is they told us long ago that they wanted to move forward and put this behind them," said Hunt.

But Wyness said that the information members are receiving in their settlement offers is often incorrect, that casual employees hadn't yet been included and that many workers feel the offers are unfairly low.

"I don't think they would offer people now if they weren't sure that the tribunal is going to offer more," she said. "They're trying to lessen their liability."

Wyness said the union is telling people who receive offers but who the union doesn't believe entitled, "to take the money and run." She said that she also understands, however, why some entitled workers might also accept.

"It's virtual money, and some people are being offered $20,000," she said, "but according to our methodology, they should get $140,000."

At the union office Friday, Margaret Bertulli was taking telephone calls from members.

"They want to know how the government offer compares to the union's," she said, "and we can give them specific information."