Conservative MP introduces union-busting legislation

"Pandering to this hard core ideological base might help deflect attention from the scandals the federal Conservatives are facing as they head into their national policy convention later but it will not do anything to help steer our economy to a much needed sustainable recovery.ʺ - James Clancy, NUPGE National President.

Ottawa (07 June 2013) – Just as the Senate Committee on Banking, Trade and Commerce is about to wrap up its hearings this week on Bill C-377, the anti-union Private Member's Bill from a Conservative backbench Member of Parliament (MP), another Conservative backbencher introduced more anti-union legislation.

NUPGE says Prime Minister should denounce bill as anti-democratic

James Clancy, National President of the 340,000-member National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE), said that while he does not expect it to happen, it is critical that Prime Minister Harper denounce this draft legislation. ʺBill C-525 goes completely against all democratic principles. Despite its name – Employees' Voting Rights Act, the bill actually gives more power to those who do not vote, than those who exercise their democratic right to vote. It turns everything wrong-side up. Those who do not participate, have more power than those that do."

Bill C-525 imposes undemocratic conditions on votes to join or leave a federal trade union

Bill C-525, deceptively entitled the Employees' Voting Rights Act, is designed to bust unions in the federal sector. The Private Member's Bill introduced by Alberta MP, Blaine Calkin, makes identical amendments to the Canada Labour Code, the Public Service Labour Relation Act and the Parliamentary Employment and Staff Relation Act. Those amendments impose undemocratic conditions on all certification and decertification votes held in unions within the federal jurisdiction.

Ignores card check evidence of support for a union

Currently, any union within federal jurisdiction which can demonstrate it has 50 per cent plus one support of employees in a workplace can be certified without having to conduct a mandatory vote. Bill C-525 would change that process so that a mandatory vote must take place in all organizing drives, regardless of whether the union is able to demonstrate that it has union cards signed by the majority of the employees.

Bill sets out higher standards than are in place for elections

The Bill further states in order for the union to be certified, a majority of the workers ʺin the bargaining unitʺ must have voted in favour of joining the union. This is quite different from the standard process for all democratic election votes where a majority is determined based on the number of persons voting. If this Bill were to be implemented into law, those employees who did not participate in the certification vote would automatically be assumed to have voted against the union.

Changes major elements of labour laws

The same undemocratic principle would also be applied in all decertifcation votes, except those union members who did not vote would automatically be assumed to have voted in favour of decertifying the union. Even if a majority of employees who voted cast a vote against decertification, the union could still be decertified if that majority is less than 50 per cent of all workers (including those who did not vote).

This undoubtedly would lead to a concerted push for decertification votes throughout the federal sector, as union busters would benefit from similar undemocratic voter suppression tactics used by the Conservatives in the last federal election.

If same rules used in elections, no one would win

To demonstrate how anti-democratic these proposals are, consider a certification or decertification vote that had the same voter turnout rate as the last federal election in May 2011 – 61 per cent. If that was the case, 81.8 per cent of voters would need to vote Ê»yesʼ to form a union, and on a decertification vote, the union could be decertified with as few as 18.2 per cent of voters voting to decertify.

Conservative employer groups only ones looking to change Labour Codes

ʺIntroducing labour law changes not advocated by the labour movement or any single national employer organization, is not the way to build a positive labour relations environment in Canada," says Clancy. "The only groups on record as advocating for these changes are two notorious union-busting organizations in Canada – Merit Canada and Labour Watch. Pandering to this hard core ideological base might help deflect attention from the scandals the federal Conservatives are facing as they head into their national policy convention later this month. It, however, will not do anything to help steer our economy to a much needed sustainable recovery.ʺ

NUPGE

The National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) is one of Canada's largest labour organizations with over 340,000 members. Our mission is to improve the lives of working families and to build a stronger Canada by ensuring our common wealth is used for the common good. NUPGE