Commission Publication
Spring 1998
| SHRC Initiates Pay Equity Complaint |
Commission News | ||
| On 19 December 1997, the Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission initiated a complaint on behalf of Canada Safeway cashiers in Saskatchewan, alleging that different rates of pay for predominantly female cashiers and predominantly male food clerks are discriminatory. The salaries paid to cashiers and food clerks are established through collective bargaining.
The complaint was made under sections 16 and 18 of The Saskatchewan Human Rights Code, which prohibit discrimination by employers and trade unions. The complaint is against Canada Safeway Ltd. and against locals of two unions representing the employees — the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, and United Food and Commercial Workers. The Commission infrequently exercises its authority under section 27(3) of the Code to initiate a complaint itself. It did so in this case because of the history of the complaint. In 1989, Barbara Hall complained to the Commission that cashiers (mostly women) at Safeway make less than food clerks (mostly men). The Commission certified the complaint as a class action complaint, and certification was disputed by Canada Safeway. In a split decision in August 1997, the Court of Appeal decided the complaint should not have been certified. The Commission initiated the current complaint in order to address the issue of whether the wage difference between food clerks and cashiers is, in fact a violation of the Code. |
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Editor, Genevieve Leslie SaskRights, Saskatoon Office Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission |
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