Saskatchewan government "studies" 40-hour week, union autonomy.
Does the Saskatchewan Party respect international labour law? If their ongoing labour reform is any indication the answer is no.
A half dozen proposals in the labour consultation paper the government unveiled in May would definitely contravene International Labour Organization (ILO) statutes. For example, in a move that could affect a large number of unorganized workers, the consultation paper asks "What limitations should there be on hours of work, if any?"
Any move to lengthen Saskatchewan's work week would contravene the spirit, if not the letter, of the 1957 ILOConvention concerning the Reduction of Hours of Work to Forty a Week.
The Saskatchewan Party's consultation paper directly attacks collective bargaining rights enshrined by ILO conventions and recommendations. It questions whether employers should "be able to apply to the Labour Relations Board to rescind a certification order" on the grounds that a union is "not representing its employees".
Today, only union members have the right to de-certify their union. Any change to that legislation would threaten workers' constitutionally protected right to Freedom of Association. ILO Convention No. 87, which Canada signed in 1972, notes that "workers… organisations shall have the right to draw up their constitutions and rules, to elect their representatives in full freedom, to organise their administration and activities and to formulate their programmes."
The Saskatchewan government's labour consultation paper also proposes allowing "an employer to voluntarily recognize an existing union without conducting a vote." This raises the prospect of what the Trade Union Act currently refers to as a "company dominated organization."
There's a long and ugly history of employers trying to bypass workers' legitimate representatives and establish more compliant "unions" to negotiate with. This is why ILO Convention No 87 and No 98 are clear that freedom of association means that workers have the right to join a trade union of their choice.
The paper specifically threatens the collective bargaining rights of some of the most vulnerable unionized workers.
The paper specifically threatens the collective bargaining rights of some of the most vulnerable unionized workers. A question in the paper asks, "should businesses who bid on contracts to provide cafeteria, janitorial, or security in government-owned buildings be automatically subject to existing certification orders and collective bargaining agreements?"
The aim of eliminating these workers successor rights — the transfer of the union and collective agreement if the employer changes — is to contract this work out to non-union employers, which would likely drive down cafeteria, janitorial and security workers' wages from $15-20 an hour to just above the minimum wage.
In 2007 Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty reinstated public sector successor rights partly because the ILO Committee on Freedom of Association found that the Mike Harris government's elimination of successor rights for public employees was inconsistent with ILO principles.
The Saskatchewan Party's decision to disregard ILO standards is particularly audacious. In June 2007 the Supreme Court ruled that Canada was legally obligated to live up to its international commitments under the ILO Constitution.
Last February the Court of Queen's Bench ruled invalid Saskatchewan government's Public Service Essential Services Act, which forbade public service workers from going on strike. The judge's decision relied heavily on Canada's obligations in signing ILO convention No 87.
The Saskatchewan Party responded to the court's ruling by appealing, which delays its implementation. Now they are proposing a series of labour reforms that would further flout international labour law.
On July 24, the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers union of Canada submited its response to the Saskatchewan government's labour consultation paper. Instead of sending our brief to the minister of labour, I symbolically delivered it to the Saskatchewan court of Appeal — because if the government's proposals go forward, this is where we'll be in a few months.
About Dave Coles
Dave Coles is President of the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada.
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