After more than 12 years, the City of Montréal is bowing to the arguments of the City’s white-collar workers’ union and opting to settle the issue of pay equity for these workers once and for all.
The City of Montréal has announced that it will not contest the May 2013 decision of the Commission de l’équité salariale (CES), marking a major step toward resolving the issue.
“Common sense has finally prevailed,”stated Francine Bouliane, general secretary of the Syndicat des fonctionnaires municipaux de Montréal (CUPE 429). “Efforts to achieve pay equity have been ongoing since 2001, and as the matter has dragged on, the City has continued to save money at the expense of women. Now, at long last, we’re putting an end to pay discrimination in the City of Montréal.”
This past May 15, white-collar workers with the City of Montréal were pleased to learn of the CES’s ruling that pay adjustments were owing to all workers under the Quebec Pay Equity Act, contrary to the claims of the City.
“We’re looking forward to resuming discussions with the City’s administration to work out the final details,”explained SFMM president Alain Fugère. “The purpose of negotiations is now to ensure that payments are made in accordance with the Pay Equity Act.”
The Syndicat des fonctionnaires municipaux de Montréal (SFMM, CUPE 429) is the largest municipal-sector union in Quebec. It represents more than 10,000 municipal and paramunicipal white-collar workers with the City of Montréal and 12 reconstituted municipalities in the Montréal region.
With more than 111,000 members, CUPE-Quebec represents approximately 70% of all municipal employees in Quebec, or some 30,000 members.