Category Archives: federal government

Opinion: Canada’s labour model is broken

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By Brian Dijkema, Edmonton Journal July 16, 2013

 

Opinion: Canada’s labour model is broken

The Harper government needs to reshape labour relations to reflect that workers and capital both win when they work together.
Photograph by: Jacques Boissinot , THE CANADIAN PRESS

 

Pop quiz: which Canadian politician was responsible for the first piece of legislation allowing trade unions in Canada? J.S. Woodsworth? Tommy Douglas? Ed Broadbent?

The obvious answer — one might say the conservative Canadian answer — would be one of the above. The correct answer is, in fact, none of the above.

None other than Canada’s first prime minister, Sir John A. Macdonald, passed the Trade Unions Act in 1872. You read that right: it was a Conservative prime minister who first legally recognized trade unions in Canada.

That this would come as a surprise to many reflects our assumptions about the way conservatives react on the labour file, instead of leading in step with their principles. Recent efforts are a case in point.

For those who haven’t been following, the current government’s efforts in labour relations reform have been limited to nibbling at the edges via private member’s bills. Bill C-377, which sought to force labour unions to disclose to everyone, not just their members, all spending over $5,000, loans over $250, and wages of employees making more than $100,000.

The other attempt at reform was Bill C-525, which would require unions to achieve a threshold of support in workplaces of 50 per cent plus one of all employees (not just those who vote).

In other words, it would require unions to receive a mandate not currently enjoyed by any current governing party in Canada, or any government in Canada ever.

Bill C-525 didn’t make it to second reading, and Bill C-377 was deemed — by the normally compliant Senate, no less — so poorly written that it was infamously sent back to the House of Commons with amendments.

Both of these bills are efforts to solve real problems with Canadian labour unions. Union spending on fringe causes — Israel apartheid week anyone? — is worthy of scrutiny. So are many of the deceptive practices unions use to get members in the door.

But what both bills have in common is that they buy into the very adversarial mentality that many of the socialist labour unions in Canada have against conservatives. In doing so, the federal Conservatives (and conservatives) are letting the left frame the conversation instead of taking a page out of Macdonald’s book and charting their own course.

Canadian labour law has not fundamentally changed since 1944 when Canada adopted the American model based on the Wagner Act of 1935. That model is based on the false premise that workers and owners are adversaries rather than parties with different, yet entwined interests.

There are rumours the government is considering bringing back a version of C-377 this fall. Let us all hope it is not so.

The choice facing the federal government over the summer is whether to continue symbolic tinkering with a broken model that diminishes mutual respect and trust, or to substantially reshape labour relations to account for the fact that workers and capital both win when they work co-operatively.

The latter approach reflects values inherent to Conservative governments: recognition of the entwined nature of labour and capital, respect for the limited role of the state, and the value of private associations.

Framing the debate according to conservative principles of limited government with a view to increasing competition between unions would break up the current anti-conservative labour monolith and, paradoxically, lead to the development of more unions.

In other words, it would be good for workers, and good for the country. It would be a legacy worthy of Sir John A. Macdonald himself.

Brian Dijkema is program director for work and economics at Cardus, a think-tank that researches renewal of North American social architecture.

© Copyright (c) The Edmonton Journal

Canada’s Top Labour Leaders Call on Premiers to Oppose Harper’s Low-wage Agenda

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NIAGARA-ON-THE-LAKE, ONTARIO–(Marketwired – July 25, 2013) – At a meeting with Canada’s premiers, labour leaders from across the country called for unity among the provinces in rejecting Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s low-wage agenda. While the premiers gather for their Council of the Federation meeting in Niagara-on-the-Lake this week, the presidents of Canada’s provincial and territorial federations of labour are hosting parallel meetings where jobs, pensions and healthcare are the big-ticket items.

The labour federation presidents called on the premiers to put pressure on the federal government to double the Canada Pension Plan and renew the 2004 Health Accord, but the main focus of their talks was on jobs, training, the Temporary Foreign Worker Program, Employment Insurance and Canada’s labour market.

“The Harper government is driving down wages and working conditions for all Canadians,” said Lana Payne, President of the Newfoundland and Labrador Federation of Labour. “The latest changes to Employment Insurance be terrible for the labour market and damaging for the economy as well. They will hurt industries and employers in some regions of the country but they will hit the most vulnerable workers hardest, with fewer and fewer unemployed workers being eligible for benefits.”

The federation of labour presidents encouraged all the premiers to call on the federal government to scrap the Employment Insurance changes.

Today 1.4 million Canadians are unemployed while the country faces many labour market challenges, including the rise of precarious work, the exploitation of migrant workers, cuts to Employment Insurance and reduced investment in job training programs for vulnerable workers – all of which highlight the need for a renewed focus on creating jobs for Canadians.

“The provinces must reject this low-wage agenda,” said Sid Ryan, President of the Ontario Federation of Labour. “The premiers have an opportunity to use their leadership to engage in substantive dialogue and take action to make sure that Canadians have good jobs. One way they can do this is by establishing Labour Market Partners Forums in every province to provide vision, collaboration and leadership on job creation.”

Already established in Québec and Newfoundland and Labrador, a Labour Market Partners Forum is a tripartite body that would facilitate collaboration and dialogue between government, labour and employers, particularly on employment strategies. This coming together of stakeholders would help to develop economic strategies that would allow the provinces and territories to compete in a global economy on the basis of high productivity and quality rather than low wages.

There is no shortage of labour market issues to be discussed in this kind of tripartite forum, including job training programs, support for unemployed persons, regular increases to the minimum wage and protections for migrant workers.

“The Temporary Foreign Worker Program is being used to fundamentally transform our country’s labour market in ways that are detrimental to the interests of ordinary Canadians,” said Gil McGowan, President of the Alberta Federation of Labour. “Provincial governments should follow Manitoba and Saskatchewan in implementing legislation that protects migrant workers from abuse and exploitation. The provinces should join the growing chorus of critics calling on the federal government to scrap the low-skill stream of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program. These workers are being used as pawns to drive down wages and displace Canadians, while also allowing employers to shirk their responsibility to train Canadians. The Premiers need to stand up to the Harper government on this important issue.”

Together, Canada’s provincial and territorial labour federations give voice to over three million workers, represented by the Alberta Federation of Labour, British Columbia Federation of Labour, Canadian Labour Congress, Manitoba Federation of Labour, New Brunswick Federation of Labour, Newfoundland and Labrador Federation of Labour, Northern Territories Federation of Labour, Nova Scotia Federation of Labour, Ontario Federation of Labour, Prince Edward Island Federation of Labour, Fédération des travailleurs et travailleises du Québec, Saskatchewan Federation of Labour and Yukon Federation of Labour.

Canadians want plan for future of health care: poll

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By Crawford Kilian
Published July 24, 2013     http://thetyee.ca

A poll released today indicates Canadians want Prime Minister Stephen Harper to call a meeting of first ministers to discuss the future of health care — and many are ready to change their vote if their present party doesn’t come up with a plan for that future.

The Nanos Research poll was carried out for the Canadian Health Coalition, an advocacy group. In a news release, the Health Coalition wrote:

Eight in ten Canadians either support (51.1%) or somewhat support (29.4%) Prime Minister Stephen Harper calling a First Ministers’ Meeting to secure a plan for the future of health care in Canada. Four in ten Canadians are either likely (19.1%) or very likely (22.2%) to vote for another federal party if the one they currently support does not present a plan for the future of health care.

Asked for their opinion on the effect of expanding private for-profit healthcare in Canada, 54% of Canadians think health care would be weakened while only 28% think it would be strengthened.

The survey results are being released as the Premiers gather in Niagara-on-the-Lake this week for a Council of the Federation Meeting. It is the last meeting they will have before the expiration of the National Health Accord in 2014.

… The federal government has signalled that it will not renew the National Health Accord. In December 2011, it announced plans to cut $36 billion from federal money transfers to provinces for health care after the Accord expires. It recently cancelled funding for the Health Council of Canada, a council created out of the Accord negotiations in 2004 to track progress and quality in health care.

Crawford Kilian is a contributing editor of The Tyee.

Foreign workers doubled as joblessness peaked: report

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Conference Board asks why Canada is still bringing in temporary foreign workers

 

Jul 23, 2013     http://www.cbc.ca

Despite an unemployment rate that spiked in 2009 and remains high, the number of temporary foreign workers in Canada has more than doubled over the last six years, according to the Conference Board of Canada.

In 2006, there were 150,000 temporary foreign workers employed in Canada. By December 2012, that number had more than doubled to 340,000.

The growth in the number of foreign workers continued throughout the 2009 recession, when the unemployment rate peaked at 8.6 per cent. In June of this year, unemployment stood at 7.1 per cent, though joblessness among young workers was stuck around 14.1 per cent.

The temporary foreign worker program has come under scrutiny in the last four months, since CBC reported that professional IT workers were being fired from their jobs at RBC so the employer could bring in temporary foreign workers.

The federal government amended the rules in late April, making it more difficult and more expensive for companies to turn to foreign workers to fill job vacancies in Canada. But the impact of those rule changes has yet to be seen, the Conference Board says.

Its report released Tuesday says that while Canadian youth were struggling to secure employment, especially that important first job after college or university, companies continued to bring in foreign workers in record numbers.

“This, justifiably, raises the question: if the unemployment rate remains relatively high and so many young and able Canadians are unable to find work, why are we still bringing in so many people under the TFW program?” the Conference Board asks.

There is no clear answer to that question, it concludes, pointing out that Alberta faced looming labour shortages in 2006. Employers in some parts of Alberta and Saskatchewan continue to have difficulty finding workers, despite the number of jobless in Canada.

A CBC report last month found the number of foreign workers in Canada had nearly tripled over the past 10 years.

The Conference Board blames a skills mismatch and the reluctance of Canadians to move long distances to find work for the inability of employers to attract Canadian workers to jobs. There also may be perception that foreign workers can be hired for less than their Canadian counterparts, the report said.

One of the key changes that Ottawa announced in April is a new fee that will be imposed on employers when they apply to the government for a labour market opinion (LMO). A positive labour market opinion must be obtained in order for employers to bring foreign workers to Canada. It takes a number of factors into consideration including what potential benefits hiring the foreign workers would have on the labour market and what efforts were made to hire Canadian workers for the positions.

The government also got rid of a rule that allowed employers to pay foreign workers up to 15 per cent less than the prevailing wage for a classification of job.

The Conference Board said it expects these changes to put “downward pressure” on the number of foreign workers in Canada — and lead to more employers seeking out domestic workers for jobs. However, it is too soon to tell if the measures will be effective in lowering the number of temporary workers in Canada while unemployment is high, the report said.

Premiers urged to hold public hearings on Canada-EU trade deal

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The Canadian Press
Published Monday, July 22, 2013 6:37AM EDT

OTTAWA — Critics of the free trade talks with Europe are urging provinces to ensure any negotiated deal gets a full public airing before it is formally signed.

The Trade Justice Network and Quebec-based Le Reseau quebecois sur l’integration continentale has sent premiers a letter in advance of their meeting in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont., next week, saying the federal review mechanism is not sufficient.

The umbrella groups, which represent unions and civil society organizations, say provinces must step in because “the current federal government has rejected virtually every amendment proposed by opposition parties to every trade agreement that has come before Parliament for review.”

The Harper government has made a successful Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement with 28 European Union nations a key economic and political goal — it would constitute the only major free trade deal since NAFTA two decades ago.

Unlike trade talks of the past, however, Canadian provinces have had to be directly involved in the process since some of the biggest issues — such as liberalized government procurement and public hydro-electricity tenders — fall under provincial jurisdiction.

As well, expected extensions in pharmaceutical patent protections will likely result in higher provincial health care costs.

With so much involved, the groups say the provinces must hold public hearings, adding there is precedent for doing so.

“If there is a difference between the CETA and these other trade and investment agreements it is surely that the Canada–EU agreement will have far greater impacts on provincial sovereignty, as well as on policy flexibility at all levels, including municipally,” the letter notes.

“We therefore urge your government, and the Council of the Federation, to champion the idea of a democratic review of the CETA in between conclusion of the negotiations and a formal signing of the agreement.”

Adam Taylor, a spokesman for International Trade Minister Ed Fast, insisted Sunday that the talks with the European Union are the most transparent and collaborative trade negotiations Canada has ever conducted.

“From the beginning, provinces and territories have been active participants, and municipalities and stakeholders from across the country from a variety of sectors have been consulted regularly,” Taylor wrote in an email to The Canadian Press.

“Together, we are working hard to conclude an agreement that generates benefits in every region of the country and creates jobs, growth and long-term prosperity for Canadian exporters, workers and families,” he said.

Most analysts believe a deal could be signed in principle this fall, despite several missed deadlines.

Officials on both sides of the Atlantic contend only a few difficult issues remain to be resolved, including expanded access for Canadian beef exports and European demands that Canada allow more imports of European dairy products.

But analysts also warn momentum could be stalled if the talks are not concluded quickly, particularly as the European Union is refocusing its attention on a deal with the more lucrative market in the United States.

Ottawa has maintained a deal could boost Canada’s economy by $12 billion and create about 80,000 jobs, although critics say the benefits are exaggerated.