In practice
Salary roll-backs and a reversal on pay equity at the national level: The Canadian government is currently implementing legislation introduced in
conjunction with the 2009 Federal Budget, which fixes the level of wage increases
for all federal public service employees. The provisions continue to negatively impact federal public sector employees in general, and particularly those working for the
Canada Revenue Agency, the National Gallery of Canada, the Canada Council for
the Arts, the Canadian Museum of Nature and the National Arts Centre, who will
experience a reduction in negotiated wage rates.
In addition, the Canadian government is implementing legislative measures to
“modernise” wage parity in the federal public sector, by making pay equity an object
of collective bargaining
collective bargaining
The process of negotiating mutually acceptable terms and conditions of employment as well as regulating industrial relations between one or more workers’ representatives, trade unions, or trade union centres on the one hand and an employer, a group of employers or one or more employers’ organisations on the other.
See collective bargaining agreement
instead of a legislated right. At the same time, it has prohibited a trade
union from representing its members in the filing of pay equity complaints. In
December 2010, the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) was granted leave by
the Ontario Superior Court of Justice to present arguments against the
constitutionality of the Expenditure Restraint Act and the Public Sector Equitable Compensation Act. PSAC’s appeal is also backed by the Royal Canadian Mounted
Police and the union representing professional employees in the public sector.
The Canadian government also allowed the Maritime Employers’ Association, which
operates under federal jurisdiction, to lock out longshoremen in the Port of Montreal
without notice or justification in order to reinforce its intention to reverse a
long-standing trade union right to income security.
Broad exclusions and additional obstacles to organising: There is mounting evidence that the Saskatchewan government intends to stand by
the legislation adopted in 2008 which has the effect of reducing the rights to
collective bargaining
collective bargaining
The process of negotiating mutually acceptable terms and conditions of employment as well as regulating industrial relations between one or more workers’ representatives, trade unions, or trade union centres on the one hand and an employer, a group of employers or one or more employers’ organisations on the other.
See collective bargaining agreement
and
organising
organising
The process of forming or joining a trade union, or inducing other workers to form or join one.
for thousands of public sector employees. The
ILO
International Labour Organization
A tripartite United Nations (UN) agency established in 1919 to promote working and living conditions. The main international body charged with developing and overseeing international labour standards.
See tripartism, ITUC Guide to international trade union rights
has directed the government to take steps to amend its Bill 5, the Public
Services
Essential Services
essential services
Services the interruption of which would endanger the life, personal safety or health of the whole or part of the population. Can include the hospital sector, electricity and water supply services, and air traffic control. Strikes can be restricted or even prohibited in essential services.
See Guide to the ITUC international trade union rights framework
Act, and Bill 6, the Trade Union Amendment Act, but it
continues to stand firm.
Uninhibited use of strikebreakers in legal strikes : Employers continue to employ strikebreakers at will, pointing to a lack of provisions against the use of
strike
strike
The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.
See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike
-breakers in many Canadian jurisdictions. In 2010, for example, strikes
involving Steelworkers at Brantford, Sudbury and Port Colborne in Ontario were
aggravated and extended by the introduction of strikebreakers.
Collective bargaining and organising rights of farm workers violated in three provinces: Farm workers are excluded from protection afforded by labour relations legislation and thus deprived of the right to organise in the provinces of Alberta, Ontario and
New Brunswick. In November 2008, the Ontario Appeal Court gave the government
a period of one year to ensure that farm workers in that province were covered by
sufficient protective legal provisions to allow them to bargain collectively. However,
the Ontario government has appealed this ruling to the Supreme Court of Canada,
and a decision is pending. As well, the
ILO
International Labour Organization
A tripartite United Nations (UN) agency established in 1919 to promote working and living conditions. The main international body charged with developing and overseeing international labour standards.
See tripartism, ITUC Guide to international trade union rights
has recommended that the governments
amend their laws.
Withdrawing rights of construction trade unions: The Saskatchewan government has introduced legislation that will eliminate sectoral bargaining in the construction industry, allow the establishment of employer-dominated company unions, and greatly reduce the power of unions in the construction industry by reducing their long-standing right concerning the supply of labour.
Canada Post refuses mail couriers basic union rights: In a conflict stemming from the 1980s, rural route mail couriers of Canada Post have struggled for their rights to form a union and to engage in
collective bargaining
collective bargaining
The process of negotiating mutually acceptable terms and conditions of employment as well as regulating industrial relations between one or more workers’ representatives, trade unions, or trade union centres on the one hand and an employer, a group of employers or one or more employers’ organisations on the other.
See collective bargaining agreement
. Section 13(5) of the Canada Post Act excludes mail contractors from the scope of the Canada Labour Code, and the employer has adamantly stated that rural route mail couriers and other associated staff shall be considered contractors. In 2003, as a result of intense lobbying, the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) was certified to represent the workers and negotiated a collective agreement that granted the mail couriers employee status. However, the employer has continued its judicial persecution of the union and its
organising
organising
The process of forming or joining a trade union, or inducing other workers to form or join one.
efforts.
