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NL government makes both positive and regressive changes to labour laws

The package of amendment includes some positive changes to the rights of working people as well as a regressive change granting employers the right to request a vote of the employer’s most recent offer.

St. John's (28 June 2012) - The Conservative government of Newfoundland and Labrador has made a number of changes to its labour laws. The changes were contained in two pieces of legislation proclaimed earlier this week - Bill 37 amending the Labour Relations Act (LRA) and Bill 38 amending the Public Service Collective Bargaining Act (PSCBA).

The changes can at best be characterized as two steps forward, one step backwards. The package of amendments contained in Bill 37 did include some positive changes to the rights of working people, such as:

  • card-based certification when 65 per cent of workers sign union cards, which reinforces the right of workers to join unions;
  • the appointment of a mediator where the parties have failed to conclude a first collective agreement within 60 days of serving notice to negotiate;
  • established time frames for the Labour Relations Board (LRB) to decide on the terms and conditions of first collective agreements;
  • the requirement that parties to a collective agreement will establish a labour management committee when one of the parties makes a written request; and
  • Additional remedial powers provided to the LRB to address failure to bargain in good faith.

One of the Bill 37 amendments to the LRA, and the only amendment made by Bill 38 to the PSCBA, however, included a regressive change granting employers, including government as an employer, the right to request a vote of the employer’s most recent offer.

This amendment undermines the collective bargaining process by greatly tipping the balance toward employers. It would be counter to the government's proposal to give the additional powers to address failure to bargain in good faith by encouraging ‘incremental’ last offers from the employer during a strike. As a result the union's bargaining power would be weaken, strikes would be prolonged and union members would suffer the financial consequences of longer strikes.

The package of amendments was also disappointing in that it did not contain a ban on the use of scabs during a strike, which government committed to supporting in 2007.

On June 21, NDP Labour Critic Dale Kirby, introduced an amendment to Bill 37, very similar to anti-scab legislation in effect in British Columbia. The NDP's proposal would have made it illegal for an employer to hire scab workers to replace employees during a legal strike or lockout, to transfer employees who would normally be at another job site, or to require any employee to do the work of a striking worker. The amendment was quickly defeated by the Conservative majority.

“We brought the government everything it needed to honour its commitment to the province’s workers,” Kirby said. “All they had to do was say yes. I am very disappointed to see them allowing the imbalance in our current legislation to continue.”

Both Bills 37 and 38 recieved Royal Assent on June 27.

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