Urgent Action Needed on Bill C-525

Message from Jerry Dias, Unifor National President:

March 21, 2014

Greetings,

I am writing you because we urgently need your help today!  We recently found out Bill C-525: An Act to Amend the Canada Labour Code, the Parliamentary Employment and Staff Relations Act and the Public Service Labour Relations Act (certification and revocation – bargaining agent) will go to third and final reading and vote in the House of Commons on April 8, 2014.

As many of you know, who attended our hugely successful national ‘Rights at Work’ tour or participated in one of our many town-halls on this issue, it is no surprise that such anti-union legislation would come out of the Harper government caucus.  However, in this sector it marks a huge and historical departure from how changes to labour legislation are normally developed.  Federally, the parties have negotiated changes to legislation and regulation through consultation with the employers’ organization (FETCO) and labour (CLC).  As a management-side witness said at the HUMA (the parliamentary committee that studied the Bill a few weeks ago), this is not the business of politicians and bureaucrats.  It is for the experts who are the practitioners.  The federal private sector deliberately sought balance and has avoided the pendulum swings seen in the provinces.  Representatives of the employer community unequivocally condemned the Bill at HUMA.  They clearly stated that C-525 does not come from the employer side.  In fact, they wanted the government to maintain the balance and leave the Code alone.

C-525 is hugely problematic and let me tell you, the original version of the Bill before it went to the HUMA committee was crazy and set standards no union could have met.  Through our lobby efforts the Bill has been amended.  It still politicizes a labour Code where balance had been found by employers and unions.  The Bill revokes automatic decertification and does not require a true majority of support for decertification.  It does not impose strict timelines on when votes happen.  It does not address the fact that the CIRB does not have the resources and staff necessary to implement C-525.  It has removed a provision which blocked decertification applications during a delicate period when the union was trying to negotiate a collective agreement, so this means the window is now wide open.

Unifor is working with the Canadian Labour Congress and every other affiliate in the country to put pressure on Conservative MPs before April 8th, to vote against this Bill.  I am asking you to phone or email the MPs our our target list (link below) and tell them that you are a voter, that this Bill matters to you and that we need their support.  At this moment we have the support of all the opposition parties and all we need are 13 Conservatives to vote with us.  You will find the target list of 24 Conservatives as well as some talking points to assist with your call or email (link below).

C-525 is fundamentally an anti-union legislation, plain and simple.  It makes it harder to certify and easier to decertify unions under the Canada Labour Code and it will provide opportunities for provinces to also lower their standards, where they have fewer qualms about amending legislation when the government changes.

Please make a call or send an email, Bill C-525 – like Bill C-377 – is a solution in search of a problem.  Employers have not asked for it; workers certainly do not want it.  It is another ideologically motivated attack on unions by this Conservative government.

If you have questions or need assistance please don’t hesitate to call our Membership Mobilization and Political Action Department at the National Office – you can also contact Patty Barrera directly at 416.718.8443 or via email at patty.barrera@unifor.org 

Many thanks in advance,

In solidarity,

Jerry Dias
National President
Unifor 

1BILL_C-525_Talking_Points_and_Target_List.pdf