Changing labour law

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 04/12/2023 (685 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Manitobans know that hard work should pay off with a good wage and benefits that help you take care of your family. But working Manitobans have seen their family budgets hit hard by inflation, with record high prices at the grocery stores, gas pumps and cost of housing. As a result of the cost of living crisis, many of us are feeling squeezed and less secure in our household finances.

One of the most effective tools that the provincial government can use to help working people out is to re-balance Manitoba’s labour laws to be fairer. The previous government liked to tip the scales in favour of employers and it is time for the Kinew government to take steps to level the playing field between employers and workers.

Manitoba unions are advocating for two common-sense ideas to help make that happen.

A union card is the best ticket to a good-paying, family-supporting job. With so many working families struggling with paying the bills, now is the time for the Kinew government to make it easier for workers to join a union if they want to.

The current process to join a union, put in place by Brian Pallister, is far too complicated and time-consuming, and it provides too many opportunities for employers to interfere in the process and intimidate workers against joining one. Right now, workers have to vote twice to join a union — first by signing a union application card, and then a second time at a future date by secret ballot, which occurs with an employer representative in the room.

The Manitoba Labour Board has found many employers guilty of trying to coerce and intimidate workers against joining a union during organizing drives. No similar examples exist of unions being found guilty by the Labour Board for doing the same.

When someone signs a union application card, they are making clear their decision to join a union. The rules should be simplified so that when a majority of workers sign their name and say they want a union, they should get one.

Manitobans want workers to be treated with fairness — both on the job and during labour disputes when workers are trying to get fair pay raises that help them deal with the rising cost of living. But we have seen a growing trend of employers hiring people to replace unionized workers while they are out on picket lines, even in the public sector as we saw with the strikes at Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries, Manitoba Public Insurance and educational assistants in the Hanover School Division.

Adding insult to injury, the replacement workers are typically paid more than what the striking workers are making. Being able to replace workers and operate as if a strike or lockout is not happening is a deeply unfair advantage for employers.

British Columbia and Quebec have long banned the use of replacement workers to try and keep employers and unions on more equal footing during labour disputes. And recently, the federal government has also introduced legislation to ban replacement workers in workplaces covered by the Canada Labour Code.

The best deals are the ones that are settled at the bargaining table and the Government of Manitoba should follow the federal government’s lead in responding to the growing use of replacement workers.

There are naysayers any time that workers gain a little bit of fairness and respect under our labour laws, but in time we often see these changes as necessary pillars of fairness in our economy.

For instance, over 20 years ago the Doer government brought in a number of changes to Manitoba’s Labour Relations Act, chief among them was making our province the first (and still the only) one that allows a union or an employer to request a third-party arbitrator to settle a contract after a strike or lockout lasts for 60 days.

At the time, many in the business community acted like the sky was going to fall because of this change. But I am very glad to see that over the course of time these same organizations have come to value this rule change, because it has served our province well in limiting the length of labour disputes. In fact, the president and CEO of the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce recently referred to our province’s binding arbitration rule as “a great piece of legislation” and Manitoba’s unions agree.

The bans on replacement workers in Quebec and B.C. have survived through many different governments of different political stripes. And that is because people in those provinces have seen the wisdom in the principles of fairness and respect for the collective bargaining process that underpin these bans.

Kevin Rebeck is the president of the Manitoba Federation of Labour.