Bargaining for All: Guides for Integrating Gender-Inclusive Language in Collective Agreements

You can now access guides for applying gender-neutral and inclusive language across collective agreements. While originally developed with your collective agreements at heart, these guides can be easily applied to various governing documents in your union work. These guides are the product of over seven years of hard work and collaboration between PIPSC and the Treasury Board of Canada.

English Guide

French Guide

Examples of a Gender-Inclusive PIPSC Collective Agreement:

Why the guides were developed

Looking at collective agreements, it has been common to see employees primarily referred to using masculine pronouns such as he, him, or his. The most frequent use of feminine pronouns (she/her/hers) was found within maternity clauses of collective agreements. Using binary – and almost always masculine – language in this way fails to be inclusive and recognize the diversity of today's workforce.

Resolving this issue is not as simple as rewriting these masculine pronouns to say he or she, him or her, or his or hers. The use of these pronouns can reinforce gender stereotypes and exclude employees who do not identify within the traditional gender binary.

What the guides include

These guides provide a step-by-step approach to gender-neutral and inclusive writing that goes beyond addressing the use of masculine pronouns. They also outline alternatives to other gendered terms found within a collective agreement.

For example, you may consider using “sibling” as an alternative to “brother” or “sister”. Or you may use the term “pregnancy” in place of the word “maternity.”

Instruction in both Official Languages

In conjunction with the English guide, a French guide for integrating gender-neutral and inclusive language into collective agreements was also developed. The French guide is not just a translated version of the English guide; it includes additional, nuanced information for ensuring gender-inclusive language in French collective agreements.

Members of the Joint Committee on Gender-Neutral and Inclusive Collective Agreement Language, tasked with developing the guide, attended a custom French language training session developed by the Université du Québec en Outaouais. This training provided the committee members with the education necessary to write gender-neutral and inclusive vocabulary in French while preserving the text's readability and integrity.

While the changes recommended in these guides do not alter the application, scope, or value of collective agreement provisions, they ensure that employees of all gender identities are recognized. Inclusive language can also help to avoid bias towards a particular sex, social gender, or gender identity.

How the project was started

The June 2017 Annual General Meeting of the Research (RE) Group discussed gender-inclusive collective agreement language, which was the impetus for the creation of these guides.

As a result of the 2018/2019 round of collective bargaining, the idea then became the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Respect to Gender-Inclusive Language. This MOU was negotiated between PIPSC and the TBS and was applied to our six core Groups (CP: Audit, Commerce and Purchasing, CS: Computer Systems, NR: Architecture, Engineering & Land Survey, RE: Research, SH: Health Services, SP: Applied Science & Patent Examination).

Under this MOU, the Joint Committee on Gender-Neutral and Inclusive Collective Agreement Language was established. The committee reviewed PIPSC’s six core Group collective agreements and identified opportunities to make the agreements’ language more gender-neutral and inclusive.

The Joint Committee developed both guides through collaborative work. It produced a final report, which included recommendations for actions to be taken before the 2021/2022 bargaining round between PIPSC and the TBS.

A future of work that’s more inclusive

In the most recent round of bargaining, all of our core Groups and agency Groups applied gender-neutral guides to the development of their new collective agreements.

We would like to extend our thanks to those who have provided their assistance throughout this project, including Suzelle Brosseau, Yvonne James, Vicken Avrikian, Jean Ouellette, Diane Lanthier, Josianne Drouin, Nicolas Daignault, Richard Beaule, Dejan Toncic, Marie-Claude Chartier, Sara Delaney, Nicholas Pernal, Stephanie Jetté-Charbonneau, Tricia Willink, Matthew MacLeod, and Catherine Wright.

We would also like to extend special thanks to Members of the RE Executive, the RE Bargaining Team, and the Treasury Board Secretariat representatives.

Without your commitment and contributions, this would not have been possible.