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The government of Ontario Premier Mike Harris is circulating a draft document that calls for the gutting of the province’s labour laws, including the repeal of the "Rand Formula", a provision that requires all employees in a bargaining unit to pay union dues. The controversial proposals are contained in a 10-page document dated July, 2000, and entitled "Enhancing Worker Democracy." It is being shown to employer groups on a confidential basis, but copies have been obtained by unions and the media. The document was produced by the Red Tape Commission, a body appointed by Harris to advise him on ways "to improve competitiveness in Ontario and to eliminate barriers to economic growth." "This whole thing is a declaration of war," said Wayne Samuelson, president of the Ontario Federation of Labour, after he saw the leaked document. Proposals in the document appear to flow out of last year’s Tory election platform, which vaguely promised to "expand workers’ rights." The document also follows logically on the heels of past union-bashing measures by the Tory government. In their first term, the Tories repealed most of the labour law reforms introduced by the New Democratic government in the early 1990s, including the ban on strikebreakers. Now, it looks like the Harris government is preparing to undo measures that were introduced by past Tory governments. The government is presenting the proposals to selected groups of employers and urging them to endorse them quickly for action in the fall. Premier Harris apparently has no plans to consult unions or even the government’s own ministry of labour. The Harris government’s labour law would:
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