Oswald misfires in ‘reign of terror’ allegations

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 25/02/2015 (3878 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It is extremely surprising that in her recent interview with the Winnipeg Free Press (Oswald vows to fight for labour rights, takes swipe at Pallister, Free Press online, Feb. 2), NDP leadership candidate Theresa Oswald equated a series of proposed labour reforms, which include allowing workers the right to secret ballot votes, with a “reign of terror.” Oswald specifically criticized the idea of ending the “card check” automatic union certification.

Having run in several elections, as well as the current NDP leadership race, Oswald surely knows how important secret ballots are to the electoral process. Secret ballots are a fundamental part of our democracy. For most of us, the idea of having to vote without a secret ballot would be unthinkable.

The secret ballot was introduced as a way to prevent the pressuring and intimidation of voters. When voters were free to vote in secret, they were free to express their actual opinions, and those who tried to pressure or intimidate voters could no longer reliably do so. Elections became freer and fairer, thanks to the introduction of the secret ballot.

Yet when it comes to where they work, Manitobans don’t actually have the right to a secret-ballot vote at all. Instead, the card-check system is in place.

Under the card-check system, union certification succeeds if a certain percentage of employees represented by the bargaining unit are signed up, rather than by a vote. Since 1977, most provinces have moved toward the use of secret ballots. Manitoba is one of the few provinces still using card-check. Despite Oswald’s rhetoric, the provinces that have moved to ensuring the right of workers to secret-ballot votes is protected have not experienced any “reigns of terror.”

In fact, it is the card-check system that is, unfortunately, far too open to abuse and such potential “reigns of terror.”

The lack of a secret ballot opens up the voting process to abuses. Reports from employers that have come into my office include threats and intimidation, allegations of professional union organizers pressuring employees in their homes, refusing to leave without a signed card and employees being provided with misinformation, just to get a signature. There are even reports of union organizers who will fraudulently sign cards on behalf of employees, without the employee’s knowledge or consent. Unfortunately, these abuses are all too real.

The card-check process means union organizers are very aware of who has supported their cause and who hasn’t. In contrast, a secret-ballot vote shields workers from pressure from either unions or employers before a vote and protects them from retribution afterward. Regardless of how a worker votes with a secret ballot, neither the union nor their employer can truly know how they voted, thus protecting the individual worker from pressure or retribution from either side. Card-check has no such protections for workers.

Polling shows support for the use of secret ballots in union-certification votes is extremely high, and highest among those who are, or were, union members themselves.

Secret-ballot elections are a vitally important part of Canadian democracy. Canadians believe very strongly in the importance of their democratic and privacy rights. Such important and central freedoms should not be abandoned in the workplace, with union-certification drives being allowed to be run under 19th-century political rules — open to all the abuses, threats, bribes, coercion and intimidation that characterized those early elections.

Manitobans believe fundamentally in the importance of democracy and the protection of individual rights. They should support a leader who will protect the democratic rights of Manitobans, including in their workplaces. No political leader, particularly one who wants to be premier of our province, should ever compare allowing Manitoba workers the right to a secret ballot with a “reign of terror.”

 

Harvey Miller is the president of the Merit Contractors Association of Manitoba.