Tories are eager to follow in the footsteps of Michigan’s anti-union legislation next week and turn Ontario into a right-to-work jurisdiction where workers can opt out of joining unions and paying dues.The move is a near the top of the agenda for the Progressive Conservatives led by Tim Hudak should they be elected come the next general election.
Senior Tory MPP Christine Elliott said Friday that only then will new businesses pick Ontario because they will have the “flexibility” they need to get the job done without tangling with a unionized workforce.
“What we really need to do is develop a very nimble workforce and that’s what the right-to-work legislation is intended to deal with so that businesses when they need to adapt to changing conditions in the workplace they have the flexibility to be able to do that. That’s what we don’t necessarily have here right now …,” she said.
“We believe that people should have the right to decide whether to join a union or not . . . .”
The Tories would rip up the Rand Formula that has been around since 1946. It requires that all members of a bargaining unit pay dues even if they hadn’t voted to join the union when it was formed.
Michigan politicians earlier this week passed two laws that would weaken unions in the labour stronghold, dealing a blow to both private and public sector unions.
During a visit to a Michigan automotive engine plant Monday, President Barrack Obama said, “What they’re really talking about is giving you the right to work for less money.”
David Doorey, an associate professor of Labour and Employment law at York University’s School of Human Resource Management, says on his blog “the purpose or result of a ‘right-to-work’ law is to render meaningless any collective bargaining relating to union dues collection.” And that he suggested could result in a challenge under Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
University of Toronto Professor Brian Langille, who specializes in labour law, said Hudak is talking about “tinkering with something pretty basic and structural to our system . . . (of) labour relations” that could result in labour chaos.
CAW National President Ken Lewenza said he hasn’t spoken to one employer who agrees with Hudak, “because they know it is going to result in a labour relations climate comparable to the Mike Harris days,” referring to the former Ontario Tory premier who battled with unions.
NDP Leader Andrea Horwath said the Tories are going in a “wrong-headed direction.”
“Driving down wages and turning Ontario into the next Alabama is simply a recipe for more people being squeezed out of the middle class, more hardship and more difficulty and will not stimulate local economy because people won’t have any money to spend,” she said.
But Elliott insisted that taking away the power of unions will result in higher wages “because we will have more businesses locating here. They will do well, they will be able to hire more people and pay higher wages.”
Source: the star
Author: Richard J. Brennan
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