For Immediate Release
8 February, 2024
MHA Lela Evans (Torngat Mountains) is calling out government’s deflection away from calls to review the Job Evaluation System (JES). In January, Evans sent a letter to the Minister of Finance supporting calls from the Association of Allied Health Professionals (AAHP) to review the JES due to pay discrepancies within their union. In response to Evans’ letter, the Minister of Finance stated: “Since implementation of the JES in 2015, there have been 1,803 group and individual requests for classification review, representing 6,805 employees.” Evans says an average of 850 workers requesting a review per year shows there is lack of confidence in the system.
“The sheer number of requests for classification review clearly demonstrates workers are concerned about the JES,” said Evans. “Government needs to respect the calls for review from the AAHP. Furthermore, Government must address the concerns from workers. The JES has never been reviewed. We do not know if it’s working as intended or if it achieves pay equity. Why not review it? Instead government blindly believes it’s working as intended.”
An ATIPP revealed a briefing note from the Department of Justice and Public Safety (JPS) sent to the Minister of Women and Gender Equality (WGE) in 2021 advising that the JES system is not enough to determine if pay equity has been achieved within the public service. The Minister did not acknowledge this in her responses to Evans.
“We know from the ATIPP that WGE was warned that the JES is insufficient to confirm that gender pay equity has been achieved within the public service, so why does the Minister of Finance continue to say the opposite?” questioned Evans.
“The briefing note cautions the Minister that retroactive pay would have to be paid out if pay inequity is found. So, to me, it just seems like government doesn’t want to pay up for past Liberal and PC governments exploiting the labor of women in this province by paying them less.
“The fact is that if this Furey government were as confident in the JES as they would like the public to believe, then they would have no problem doing a review. They must confirm that the JES and Hay Management System has achieved true gender equity throughout the public service. It is very clear to me that this government is afraid of what would come from these reviews and it’s stopping them from doing the right thing.”
-30-
A copy of MHA Evans letter can be found here: https://www.nl.ndp.ca/post/evans-writes-minister-of-finance-calling-for-review-of-the-job-evaluation-system
A copy of the response from the Minister of Finance is attached.
For further information, contact Stephanie Curran, Media Relations Manager, NDP Caucus at 330-0328 (c), or stephaniecurran@gov.nl.ca