Richard Gleeson
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Feb 11/00) - The clear winners so far in the long-standing pay equity dispute between the territorial government and the Union of Northern Workers appear to be the lawyers.

The territorial government reports it has spent $1.7 million on legal fees for the case since last March.

A UNW official said while he knows "substantial sums" are being spent to fight the union side, he couldn't narrow down a figure because the case is being handled by the Public Service Alliance of Canada.

The money has bought little resolution, however, as the case is argued before the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal.

Since the tribunal started hearing the case seven months ago, only two witnesses have testified. Both were union witnesses. The government will call its witnesses after the union's have been dealt with. The hearing continues for two weeks each month in an Ottawa courtroom. The union blames government stalling tactics for the slow pace.

"I guess the benefit (in delays) for government is there's no cost right now except legal fees," said Union of Northern Workers director of finance Fredrick Bayer.

The GNWT's equal pay manager Shaleen Woodward said it's important that the issue be dealt with carefully. She said such large pay equity cases are complicated and typically take years to resolve, noting the federal pay equity tribunal hearing lasted a decade and a Canada Post hearing on pay equity took seven years.

Woodward said the government has projected the tribunal hearing will last five to seven years.

The UNW launched the pay equity complaint in early 1989, alleging the government underpaid employees in positions traditionally held by females.

The complaint affects approximately 5,300 present and former employees. The Tribunal will determine if the workers were underpaid and, if so, how much they are owed.

Woodward says 83 per cent of those employees have accepted settlement offers worth a total of $26 million.

Bayer said the government's most recent motion serves as a good example of the empty rhetoric the government is using to bog down the hearing.

The government is asking the tribunal to confirm it is the employer in this case.

"They're asking the union to make a ruling on something nobody disputes," said Bayer.

But Woodward said the motion is not frivolous. She said it relates to an argument, made by a Canadian Human Right's Commission lawyer during the government's court challenge of the tribunal's impartiality. The lawyer raised questions about the government's legal standing in the case, Woodward said.

"This is not a source of delay," said Woodward. "We want to make sure we have the legal right to defend ourselves."

So far, none of the dozen or so court actions, arguments and objections advanced by the government have been successful.

The motion will be ruled upon during the hearing which runs until the Feb. 17th.