This week, the Tribunal administratif du travail (TAT) rejected an application from the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) to review a decision guaranteeing pay equity for UQAM employees.
“Once again, the TAT reiterated its decision and ruled in favour of the Syndicat des employé-e-s de l’UQAM (SEUQAM). In fact, UQAM was hoping that the TAT would come up with a new appreciation of the evidence in a ruling that was not in its favour. UQAM reportedly sought TAT’s approval to amend the wage scales that had been negotiated as part of a collective agreement,” explained Louisa Cordeiro, president of the SEUQAM.
The calculations UQAM brought forth would have allowed it not to pay the amounts that employees hired on or after June 1, 2004 would have been entitled to under the pay equity plan.
In his findings, the administrative judge, Guy Roy, wrote that “there is no justification for the argument that employees hired at these pay scales hired after June 1, 2004 should be paid at a rate lesser than the one established pursuant to the Pay Equity Act.”
“It is really disappointing to see a progressive institution such as UQAM, a self-proclaimed advocate of a more egalitarian and fairer society, act in that way,” said Cordeiro.