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Attention union leaders and activists! In July, the Alberta government established a special MLA committee to examine the possibility of amending our province’s Labor Relations Code – and the Alberta Federation of Labour is encouraging unions to get involved in the review process! The committee – composed of three back-bench Tory MLAs – is currently accepting submissions from interested parties up to a deadline of September 15, 2002. After that, the committee will make recommendations to the Minister of Human Resources about whether or not the Code should be opened up – and, if it is, what changes should be made. From our perspective here at the AFL, it’s a forgone conclusion that the committee will recommend at least a few amendments. Recent rulings from the Supreme Court of Canada make it clear that several sections of the current Code are unconstitutional – including provisions which prohibit union organization in the agricultural sector and ban secondary picketing in all sectors. As a result, changes will have to be made at least in these two areas. However, there are clear signs that amendments will not be restricted to these topics. According to the committee’s terms of reference, the MLAs will examine a wide range of issues including things like: certification and revocation, first agreement legislation and essential service legislation. More ominously, after more than a year of heavy lobbying by the notoriously anti-union Merit Contractors Association, the government has also agreed to deal with the so-called "key issues" of "salting" and "merfing." For those who are not familiar with these terms, they refer to the practice of using union members to help organize non-union worksites (salting) and the practice of unions and unionized employers in the construction industry working together to lower costs and win contracts (merfing). On the surface, the concerns raised by the Merit Contractors may seem almost laughable. Do they really think a few pro-union activists on a non-union worksite can "brainwash" the majority into voting for a union if they really don’t want one? What ever happened to free will? And when it comes to "merfing," what could possibly be wrong with employers and employees working together to lower costs and win business? Isn’t that the kind of free and unfettered dealing-making that makes the market work? Unfortunately, while we in the labour movement may see the Merit arguments for what they really are (i.e. thinly veiled attempts to bust unions) the government is taking them very seriously. More importantly, the "remedies" being proposed by the Merit Contractors would, if implemented, have extremely negative implications for all unions, not just those in the construction industry. For example, they’re talking about forcing mandatory open periods every year in every sector. Under this kind of system, employers would have an increased incentive to launch decertification campaigns and we would be forced to divert scarce resources away from service and organizing into campaigns aimed at keeping members we already have. Clearly, this would undermine our ability to effectively represent our members – and it would be a huge step down the road to a made-in-Alberta right-to-work law. That’s why the AFL is encouraging all unions and union members to get involved in the review process. The government is obviously in the mood to make changes to the Labour Code. But so far, they’ve only heard from one side – the side advocating changes that would make it even harder for unions to operate in this province. With this in mind, we are urging all Alberta unions and locals to make submissions to the review committee. We need to counter the anti-worker rhetoric that members of the committee have heard from the Merit contractors. We need to explain why workers need unions and deserve a fair opportunity to join them. And we need to put forward ideas for change that will actually help working people in this province – instead of weakening their protections in the workplace. To help you put together a submission on such short notice, please make use of the following resources:
The AFL is currently in the process of preparing its own brief to the MLA committee. As soon as that document is finished, copies will be mailed out to all affiliates. If you have time to prepare your own brief now, please do so and send it to the committee. If you would prefer to wait to see the AFL’s full brief before sending your own, that’s fine – as long as you keep the committee’s deadline of September 15 clearly in mind. Please remember, your submissions don’t have to be long. One or two pages explaining what you think is wrong with Alberta’s labour laws is better than no submission at all. In addition to sending your submission directly to the commission, please also send a copy to us here at the AFL. Thanks in advance for helping us stand up for workers’ rights in Alberta! Send your submissions to: Please also forward a copy to the AFL: Alberta Federation of Labour |