This is an archive of news stories and research from the National Union of Public and General Employees. Please see our new site - https://nupge.ca - for the most current information.
"If you ever wanted to see the strangest bed fellows, you would just have to look at the opposition to the Conservative legislation. From the NHL's Players' Association, to the Canadian Bar Association, to academics, accountants, labour and business people, we all knew that this legislation was undemocratic, undermining and unnecessary."— Larry Brown, NUPGE President
Ottawa (16 June 2017) — Canada’s unions are celebrating the adoption of Bill C-4, legislation that repeals the former Conservative government’s controversial anti-union Bills C-377 and C-525.
Flawed bills repealed under new Liberal legislation
"We, and the rest of the labour movement, have been organizing and campaigning against this legislation since the beginning," says Larry Brown, President of the National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE). "So, of course, we are thrilled to see the passage of Bill C-4."
"If you ever wanted to see the strangest bed fellows, you would just have to look at the opposition to the Conservative legislation. From the NHL's Players' Association, to the Canadian Bar Association, to academics, accountants, labour and business people, we all knew that this legislation was undemocratic, undermining and unnecessary," said Brown.
As former senator Hugh Segal wrote to his colleagues as they were considering Bill C-377, "Honourable senators, this bill is about a nanny state; it has an anti-labour bias running rampant; and it diminishes the imperative of free speech, freedom of assembly and free collective bargaining."
The former Conservative government argued Bill C-377 was about union transparency, but experts from across the spectrum agreed it was really about red tape that would have forced unions, their suppliers, and other businesses they work with to spend millions of dollars and thousands of hours producing and processing expense reports to be reviewed and filed — all at taxpayer expense.
Bill C-525 would have made it more difficult for workers in federally-regulated workplaces to join a union. It was opposed by labour relations experts, but was nonetheless passed into law by the Conservatives in December 2014.
Despite massive opposition to Bill C-377, the Conservatives used their Senate majority to pass the bill on June 30, 2015.
"Now that Bill C-4 has passed, we look forward to working with the government to improve working conditions for workers' across Canada," added Brown.
More information:
Bill C-377: undemocractic, undermining and unnecessary