Next action: Monday 7:30 at the legislature. Share! Presumably it would also snare members of the public who showed up on an “illegal” picket line, or members of other unions not subject to this thuggish legislation who joined a picket out of solidarity. The penalty? Oh, only $500 a day or partial day for every time you exercise your constitutional right to free speech. “The key issue here is that if someone uninvolved with a union (say a newspaper editor or an academic) says, ‘the workers’ only recourse is an illegal strike,’ that could well be construed as counselling workers or trade unionists to violate ss.4(1-2), which is a violation of s.4(4),” wrote Athabasca University Professor Bob Barnetson in his excellent labour issues blog yesterday. “So,” asked Barnetson, “what happens to the editor or academic? Well, s.18(1) says that if you violate s.4(4) you are guilty of an offence. Under s.18(1)(d), the editor or academic would be liable for a fine of $500 a day per day of the contravention. Section 20(a) says that prosecution may occur within 1 year of the last day the offense occurred. “So riddle me this,” he went on. “If Bill 45 had been the law before the jail-guard strike went down this spring and I made a blog post (primarily aimed at students) that suggested the guards had no choice but to strike since the employer would not address the health and safety issues at the (then) new remand centre (which is a reasonable conclusion to draw) and the employees illegally struck and I left the post up, I would remain open to prosecution for an offense indefinitely for a fine of $500 a day?”
Posted on: Fri, 29 Nov 2013 22:55:23 +0000
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