Sad day for Canada. Greetings: Bill C-525 Passed Democracy in Canada was put to shame yesterday with the Senates passing of Bill C-525, the Employees Voting Rights Act. Bill C-525 is critically flawed, as the Conservative dominated Senates Legal and Constitutional Affairs committee discovered last week. Ignoring Liberal amendments to fix the mistakes, the committee passed it on the grounds that amending the Bill would kill it. The Bill then returned to the Chamber for Third Reading on Monday evening, only to be passed, mistakes and all. This Bill, which will make it harder for workers to certify a union and easier to decertify unions in federally-regulated industries, was introduced by the Conservatives through the back door. MP Blaine Calkins introduced this private members bill to amend the Canada Labour rather than following the decades old and proven process of amending the Canada Labour Code through tripartite consultation with employers, labour and government. Neither employers nor unions sought these changes; neither employers nor unions identified a single problem in current industrial relations that required these legislative amendments. Virtually all industrial relations authorities in Canada have warned against Bill C-525 and the process through which the government is upsetting the balance in federal labour relations. Even the Canada Industrial Relations Board presented a study to the Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities earlier this year that revealed the mandatory voting called for in Bill C-525 will result in a 500% increase in costs. This legislation is really about denying Canadian workers the right to collective bargaining with their employer. It is an invitation to employers to interfere with workers democratic right to choose representation, and it will destabilize federal labour relations. The Canadian Senate has abdicated its responsibility of sober second thought by allowing a technically flawed and badly drafted bill to pass into law. In Solidarity, Hassan Yussuff CLC President
Posted on: Tue, 06 Jan 2015 22:36:24 +0000
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