05) LABOUR CAN’T AFFORD A NEW TORY MAJORITY

People’s Voice Editorial

             The attacks against organized workers have been so consistent over the last decade that many Canadians may consider the situation “normal.” But there is nothing ordinary or acceptable about a government which destroys the ability of workers to take collective action to defend their interests.

            The Canadian Association of Labour Media has detailed the range of these attacks, which have done much to dismantle rights and protections won through decades of tough labour struggles, advocacy and court victories.

            From the moment Stephen Harper became Prime Minister, piece after piece of legislation has taken aim at unions and free bargaining. Here are some examples. Buried within Bill C-60, the omnibus budget bill passed in 2013, was a provision to allow the Treasury Board to direct collective bargaining for 48 Crown corporations, effectively gutting the labour rights of tens of thousands of employees.

            Bill C-377,  a private member’s bill backed by the Harper Tories, requires unions to report every nickel they spend. This expensive process makes publicly available the financial information of union federations and labour organizations, and even the personal information of individual union members.

            Passed last April, the “Act to amend the Canada Labour Code, the Parliamentary Employment and Staff Relations Act and the Public Service Labour Relations Act” fundamentally changes the process of forming unions in the federal sector by eliminating card check certification.

            Relying on “back to work” legislation has been a preferred tactic under Harper, whose former Labour Minister Lisa Raitt argued that workers for Canada Post and Air Canada perform “nearly essential” services. Raitt even suggested that the economy itself is an essential service, threatening to put virtually all labour negotiations at risk.

            Enough is enough. The most anti-working class government seen in this country since the days of “Iron Heel” Bennett must be defeated on October 19th!

(The above article is from the October 1-15, 2015, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading socialist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, BC, V5L 3J1.)