BRIEF TO THE COMMITTEE TO REVIEW THE EMPLOYMENT EQUITY ACT
FROM
WITT NATIONAL NETWORK/INDUSTRIAL ADJUSTMENT COMMITTEE
I would like begin by sharing with you part of a dialogue I have
been engaging in with an individual who has been involved with
the us Civil Rights Act since prior to its inception in 1964.
Many of the themes addressed here are familiar to us in Canada,
and form an analysis on which I would like to reflect in this
brief.

"In 1964, I served on the. Task Force which established the

Community Relations Service of the U. S. Department of Justice.
The CRS was an entity mandated by the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
It's purpose was to reduce the tensions and to resolve conflicts
wnich the U.S. Congress anticipated would result from federal
efforts to enforce the newly enacted civil rights law. In the

four years that I worked as Chief Intergroup Relations Officer of
the CRS, none of us anticipated that Affirmative Action
regulations would become on of the most controversial issues to
be faced in administering the '64 law, and the other civil rights
laws which followed.

In employment, affirmative action requires employers to develop
and implement programs which favor members of designated minority
groups and women in decisions on employment and promotions. In
practice, this has caused consternation among some employers who
have claimed that the available qualified pool of workers was and
is inadequately filled with designated group representatives.
The key word there is "qualified".
Faced with the demand that minorities and women be represented in
the workforce at all work levels from unskilled to managerial
responsibilities, employers, within both the government and
private sectors, have ben accused of hiring and promoting
unqualified workers. Their defense is that this is the only way
to obtain government contracts and meet the requirements of

oversight inspectors.

lt is c1ear that a significant number of adults now reach their
working years inadequately equipped with the skills required to
participate successfully in America's workforce. Employers,
anxious to fulfill their non-discrimination obligations, report
that despite extensive and expensive outreach programs, they are
sti11 unable to meet government demands for statistical evidence
that designated groups have not been discriminated against. As a
result, "warm bodies" from these groups have become almost as

important as qualified bodies.

Another result has been the false but widespread belief that

employed minorities and women are all or mostly incompetents who
are working only because of racial favoritism required by the

government.

In addition, majority

group

members

believe

that

they are now being discriminated against. Elected officials
report that they are besieged by constituencies that have found
in affirmative action programs a scapegoat for their feelings of
economic insecurity, particularly during this current recession.

Most Americans agree that African-Americans, in particular, have
been the past victims of discrimination, inferior education and,
disproportionately, the ravages of poverty. As one result, they
often enter the job market with fewer or less developed skills
than those who did not suffar these restrictions. Yet, many have
been employed and voluntarily given on-the-job training.
However, often such training has been perfunctory or inadequate
for anything other than entry level work.
What is needed are governmental regulations which require
affirmative action training as well as employment programs. such
programs, if properly administered and vigorously checked by

contract compliance officers could have the.affect of increasing
the qualified pool of designated group workers. In so doing,
they would conform to the intent of Congress to have employers
seek out and prepare previously discriminated against individuals
for more equitable participation in the workplace.

The current system of enforcement of laws against discrimination
focus on statistical results. If a targeted community fails to
be represented in numbers considered to be proportionally
representative of their numbers within a total population than it
is assumed that a form of discrimination is operative. Little,
if any, attempt is made to determine what the reasons are for
Pre-employment tests that screen out too many
this condition.
minority participants are automatically presumed to be unfair.
Performance ratings and promotions which reflect negatively on
minorities and women are looked upon as evidence of prejudice and
demands are made that the rating system be changed rather than
developing training procedures to improve skills.

There is no question that prejudice and discrimination play an

significant role.

However, this is not universally the case.

All too often the statistics are presumed to be prima facie
evidence of malpractice.
At a time when our economy faces challenges from outside our
boarders, we are will advised to examine and reform our system of
education which produces such a large population that is willing
to work but is inadequately trained to do so. While this is
being done, we should raquire our business and industrial
community to use their considerable resources and skills to train
or retrain minorities and women and in doing so, to bring them
within a system of true equal opportunity regardless of race,
creed color or sex."

Seymour Samet is President of HR Factor Associates, a human
relations consulting company. The associates provide guidance and
leadership training to corporations, educational institutions,

non-profit organizations and government agencies in the
prevention or resolution of intergroup tensions. After 40 years
of work in the Civil Rights field, he currently serves as a
member of the New Jersey Advisory Committee

to the US Commission

on Civil Rights.
There are many familiar themes highlighted in Mr. Samet's
comments. I would like to focus particularly on the issues of
training.
In Canada, we wanted to avoid some of the perceived difficulties
Wa chose not ta call for "quotas", we told
our employers they need hire only "qualified" workers. We
developed comp1icated and not always very accurate "availability
data" to assist employers to set their goals on the basis of the
"available" labour pool with the requisite skills from the
appropriate recruitment area. In other words, we spent thousands
of dollars enabling employers to meet the current level of
discrimination in Canada.
in the US experience.

We must be very careful to ensure that this data does. not become
a ceiling, but rather is viewed as a basic minimum. In other
words, we will never progress very far if we continue to only
meet the current level of availability, and do nothing to
increase that level with special measures for the designated
groups.
At the sa~e time, we have

within our legislation our own Canadian

perspective on ameliorating the disadvantages in the workplace.
our language differs significantly from the language used in the
US Contract Compliance program, which states "contractors
will ... ensure that applicants are employed .... and treated during
employment without regard to race, color, re1igion, sex or
national origin." (Italics mine)
The Canadian Employment Equity Act says, we a.re to "correct the
conditions of disadvantage" which "requires special measures and
the accommodation of differences" "giving effect to the principle
that EE means more than treating persons in the same way" to
achieve equality of result. To do this, we must consider the
effects of past discrimination or exclusionary practices in
determining what those measures might need to be. The specifics
of discrimination of a particular designated group will help us
determine the quality and quantity of special measures necessary
to achieve equality of result.

Section 4b states that this includes "instituting positive
policies and practices and making such reasonable
accommodation ..• n In many cases, that would ne~d to mean the
_provision of training, sometimes even special training programs
of qualifiable workers to assist them to become qualified
workers. Our current emphasis on only hiring "qualified'' workers
leaves out many women who have been denied previous exposure or
experience in technical

.fields and who have, through addi.tional

I TT

training, shown to be very capable workers in these fields.
These training initiatives would need to become an integral part
of an employer's Employment Equity Plan. Training would need to
mandated as one of the elements of those plans.
Section 5 states, "An employer shall, in respect of each year,
prepare a plan setting out goals." Guidelines include the
requirement of timetables. They must include both quantitative
and qualitative measures. Some employers describe the programs
and practices through which they hope to achieve their goals. If
more emphasis was put on a requirement for this information, and
if it was also required to include clear training components, we
mignt see the achievement of more effective result. (Whether
these plane shou1d be made public or available only to the
auditing agency, and who that agency night be is not a topic
this brief.)
Plans, goals and. time tables must be based, to some extent, on
the human resource requirements of a particular conipany . At the
same time, any company, even if i t is in a downsizing mode, has
openings, at both the entry level and within other levels of the
organization, created by attrition and ordinary promotions and
terminations. Plans must reflect affirmative movement of the
designated groups into those positions using percentage goals,
recruitment strabagies, the elimination of systemic barriers and
training plans for designated group members, as well as
integration and retention strategies which include training for
co-workers, managers, first line supervisors and trainers.

Training that doesn't eminate from or result in being hired into
a real job is an empty display. Too many employers utilize
government training programs and do not provide ongoing or
continuing employmentthereafter. There must be a clear link to
employment for those EIC programs that are being utilized by
employers as a demonstration or their commitment to implementing
Employment Equity. This would not eliminate the possibility of
exploratory course run by community based agencies or community
colleges, but would effect only those programs being sponsored hy
an employer or union.

Thank you for you consideration of these matters, and we hope
that you. will recomm,end the inclusion of training as part of
industrial requirementsunder the Act and within the regulations.

Respectfully
submitted,
Marcia Braundy
National Coordinator
WIT~ National Network/IAS Committee

BRIEF TO THE COMMITTEE TO REVIEW THE EMPLOYMENT EQUITY ACT

FROM
MARCIA BRAUNDY
NATIONAL COORDINATOR, WITT NATIONAL NETWORK
Advocates for women in trades, technology, operations. and blue collar work
Thank you for this opportunity to provide a brief to this
committee. There are many perspectives from which you must draw
in your deliberations, employers, labour, the designat.ed groups,
those who have been administering the current programs,
researchers and legal experts. We hope that WITT's unique
perspective can assist you in modifying, refining and reinforcing
the Employment Equity Act to the betterment of all Canadians.
Employment Equity must mean more than the inclusion of a few more
women in senior lnanagement positions, though clearly that is one
aspect that may benefit us all over the long term. The fact is,
there are only so many jobs at the top. The insignificant
improvements in representation of women in the professional and
particularly the technical and operational eatagories, fromwhich
senior management is often drawn, demonstrates tbe lack of
success this legislation has had for the large majority of women.
they have achieved is in
The "representation" or "participation"
service occupations.
and
sales
clerical,
of
levels
lower
the
Recently, we have been hearing more often that women have had
their day or year, and that the focus should be on people with
disabilities or aboriginal people or visible minorities. Those
categories are not made up of just men, as some might have us
think. Women also make up over 51% of all of those categories.
If one were cynical, one might think that this m.ore limited
description, of who was being discriminated against, was useful
because there are many fewer people to focus on when you limit
consideration of equity concerns to only members of one or two of
success might be easier to achieve. But
the designated groups.
the facts are that woman, in all designated groups, make up 44t
of the Canadian workforce, and that they are segregated., for the
most part, into only 5 occupational categories and at the lowest
salary levels in those occupational categories. Women in the
other designated groups are often doubly and triply discriminated
against and find themselves at the very bottom of the salary
scales and promotion levels. Their opportunities to be exposed to
the potential of other kinds of work is limited by society's
definition of what is appropriate.
WOMEN IN TECHNICAL AND OPERATIONAL FIELDS
Even so, WITI' has members and member groups in every province and
territory in Canada. We have published a broad range of their
stories and experience in "Surviving and Thriving - Women In

Trades and Technology and Employment Equity . "

I have conducted

.research tor BIC with women training and working in technical and
blue collar fields all over the country. Many say the same
things. They may have struggled against prejudice and harassment
to get into and complete teehnical training, and they have to
struggle against the same factors to find an employer who will
hire them and continue their training so they can effectively
contribute to building and maintaining the world in which we
live. Their satisfaction and joy in doing the work is unbounded.

Their opportunities could be increased through effective
EJaployment Equity requirements.

COVERAGE AND UNIONS
First of all,
coverage: 100 employees or ,when accumulated
contracts reach $100,000. He understand that NEEN has indicated

a somewhat different approach, and that we are a signatory to

that presentation.

The above figure was recommended at our 1988

national conference and has not yet been changed. It is an
effective proposa1. We also support the NEEN proposal.

All grants and contributions, including EIC training programs
should be within the jurisdiction of the Act.
construction contract.ors and sub-contractors must be included
under the Federal Contract.or's Program., and this mu.st mean more
than just running training programs. 1'hose programs must lead to
jobs in the industry.

Unions must participate actively in developing Employment Equity
Plans, Goals and Timetables. This should not be a part of the
regular bargaining process because it is inappropriate to use
Employment Equity as a bargaining chip to be bargained away for a
gain in another area by either side. After the EE negotiations
take place, the agreements should be rolled in.to the regular
collective agreement and regular or special grievance procedures
should be followed as negotiated.

If there is no union, workers

should participate on the committee. It is only through this
process that the broad education of all concerned can be
effected .
If employees are dispatched from unions operating under a "hiring
hall" situation, the unions must be required to participate in
developing an Employment Equity Plan as part of the preliminary
negotiations of a job contract. (It was most interesting to hear
from the us Department of Labour at our recent conference in
Ottawa that while women in industrial 'apprenticeships was up at
15%, their apprenticeships in the building trades were down at
2%,after 25 years of the us Civil Rights Act.)

STEPS TO EFFECTIVE IMPLEMENTATION
currently, each CEO who wishes to do business with the government
must sign their willingness to implement Employment Equity under
the Federal Contractor's Program. Eleven steps are outlined to
be undertaken to achieve this implementation .
It would be useful

if those steps could be laid out that clearly to those covered
under the Act, and that the auditing body would have similar
access to all records and personnel in their review processes.
While the PCP plans are not public, clearly, some of them have
taken their CEO's signature seriously and have made some
significant inroads in achieving at least some of their goals.

In developing plans, for both the FCPand those Legislated, (I
will not comment
on whether the FCP should be under the
legislation) there must be some clear outline of minimum
standards of goals and progress, or we will continue to
discriminate to the level to which we currently discriminate. It

is very important that the Plans include accountability
procedures and how those will be measured. Inclusion in all
levels of performance reviews for both supervisors and line
managers should be a minimum. The potential for making budgetary
allocations or additions on the basis of those reviews aiqht be
considered as both an incentive and a penalty. Sufficient funds
for review and audit must be madeavailable to the monitoring and
enforcement agencies.

FEDERAL GOVERNMENT'S INCLUSION UNDER THE ACT
The Federal Government should be incorporated under the Act. I
sat on the Federal external Advisory Committee to the President
of tbe Treasury Board on Employment Equity for Women in the
Public Service for four years and was chair of the sub-committee
on training. We reviewed the plans (some thick, saying little;
some thin; some saying more) spoke with Deputy Ministers,. asked
for and received studies of promotion patterns for female
dominated occupational categories, made recommendations for
adjustments and structural change. That committee, along with
the one for the Disabled and tbe one for Visible Minorities, was
disbanded by the President 15 months ago, in favour of joint
committee wbich has never met. When asked about the status of
the recomaendations we made regarding training and apprenticeship
for women in September1990, the reply is that 'it is nice to
have our letter'. After the disturbing Task Fcrce report on
women's employment in the Public Service, Beneath the Veneer, it
is essential that the Federal Gover:nment be held accountable, and
be required to perform in such a way that they can begin to act
as a role model tor the private sector.
(WITT no longer uses the term "non-traditional" . These jobs are
not non-traditional, men have been doing them for a long time.
When they are referred to as non-traditional
only when women do
them, the women are isolated and considered somewhat out of
place. Young women don't want to be "non-traditional", they just
want to do interesting work and make a good living. we call the
jobs what they are: trades, technical and.operations (TTO)
professional and management - not described by some
characteristic of the individuals doing them. We would like the
Federal Government to change their use of this term.)

ENFORCEMENT
In 1985/86, legislated employers and federal contractors were
given 2-3 years to prepare their workforce and their reporting
systems for the implementation of Employment Equity. Many of us
thought they would use that time to get their numbers up in some
of the designated group categories so they would not be too
embarrassed.
In most cases, this did not ooour . In many cases,
it was not until the review officer walked through the door or a
complaint was filed with the Canadian Human Rights commission,
that there was a recognition that there was anynore to this than
signing a piece of paper or filing a report.
Women with TTO experience have been banging on the doors and only
sometimes getting in to be able to prove themselves. They have
often proven to be the best, the most accomplished a.nd willing
workers. We will know we are accomplishing something when even
just the average of us gets the same access to the jobs that less
effective men do.

In order to move in that direction, mandatory plans, targets and
timetables set by the companies, in accordance with their
industrial requirements are essential, in collaboration with the
agency whose task it is to assist, educate and monitor.
EIC has been doing some of this work quite effectively, though
their efforts have been hampered by their lack of resources and
lack of a clear mandate as to what direction their efforts should
take. As well, the possibility of integrating Employment Equity
initiatives with ElC training programs etc is a plus for
continuing their active role.
It would seem, though, rather inappropriate to have the same
agency assisting in the development and implementation of plans
and challenging the effectiveness of efforts and applying

sanctions.

Perhaps another body should be in charge of that

component, with additional advice from EIC.

We heard recently, at our national ccnference in Ottawa, that
in the us, the most effective method of enforcement is something
called a "consent decree". This appears to similar to what the
Canadian Human Rights Commission set out for CN Rail as a result
of the Action Travail des Femmes case. A US case example was
described to your committee by Professor Jain. It is a clear and
practical prescription for action to be undertaken
to immediately
remedy the situation found wanting, with a significant burden of
penalties attached for failure to perform. 'l'be imposition of
these orders needs to be in the hands of a semi-judiciary/legal
body mandated to operate in this fashion.

TRAINING
Our thoughts on training have been included with the brief from
our WITT National Network/Industrial Adjustment Committee.
Because members of that committee differ even among themselves on

the wide range of issues addressed here, it was decided that we
would submit two briefs, one from our organization., and a joint
one from our committee on which sit a number of employers,
unions, government representatives and educators. The brief you
have in you hand represents the positions expressed by our
organization.
And finally,

Gay Stinson suggested in her presentationthat section 4 bii of
the Act "described the requirement for government and employers
alike to have very detailed information on the availability of
members of the designated groups." Due to Privacy legislation,
that information can only be in the aggregate form, not in a form
that might allow employers to contact the individuals
represented.

In 1988, Women in Trades and Technology held a national
conference. There were 120 TTO women (trades, technical and
operational) and 130 employers, unions, government and educators
present from all over Canada. The conference was held because
the women were saying that, though they had their initial
training, no one wou.1d hire them.

couldn't find any women workers.

The employers were saying they

Governments were saying that
women just weren't interested. in that kind of work . By the end
of the four days of enlightened interaction, the group

unanimously recommended that a national databank inventory be
created that would enable employers and TTO women at varying
skill levels to get in touch with each other. WITT might
undertake this because it does not fall under Privacy
legislation, although it morallymust maintain some discretion.

WITT National Network, formed at that conference, worked for the
next 3 and a half years to bring that databank into being. After
EIC provided significant funds to design it and lay the
groundwork tor the data. collection across the country, including
additional funds to work in Quebec, and we submitted a highly
supported proposal, we were told they wouldn't support the
databank implementation because the other designated groµps might
want one.
we must encourage this potential relationship with employers.

bave recent1y been informed. that perhaps the department might

consider a pilot project in one province .. Clearly, the

We

aavailability data" that hasbeen developed is inaccurate, and
does not provide access to real individuals. Employer often use
their lack of access to designated group members as an excuse.

. 1

This is a
national problem, and one that Max Yalden commented on
in his presentation to you. That lack of access to designated
group members has been cited several times here before this
committee as a barrier to successful recrui.tment and hiring. It
would be important for the legislation to include mandating an
agency with a significant budget to work with and support
copunity based organizations efforts to solve this problem.

The designated groups have the potential to be much more
effective in building the links between their members and the
employer community because they have a vested interest in the
success of the program. As EIC bas moved out of the counselling
and job placement .business, that role bas been contracted more
and more to community based agencies acting for the designated
groups through Outreach projects etc. (at a significantly reduced
rate of pay). But the success of these efforts cannot be
discounted .. The importance
of making the link between the
availability data and potential real workers must be stressed,
and the service provided as part of the programs and
consultations engaged in with employers in the process of

implementing their employment equity plans.

IN CONCLUSION
We wish you well in your difficult deliberations, weighing the
many varied positions to which you have been exposed. I would
have been delighted to meet with you to discuss some of the
issues contained in this brief in more detail, and I regret that
your intensely busy schedule has not allowed for this. I remain
available if that is useful .

Respectfully s
Marcia Braundy

National Coordinator

WITT National Network