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The UCP’s Bill 32 attempts to graft an American interpretation of worker rights (or lack thereof) onto Canadian labour law — and the results are both ugly and unconstitutional. Great piece by lawyer @LawyerBuchanan. #AbLeg #abpoli #canlab http://lawofwork.ca//bill32-charter
“Criticizing a public sector employer for making cuts to staffing and service levels is overtly political. Yet these types of activities are legitimately within unions’ representational mandate and have long been integral to the landscape of Canadian labour.”
“Bill 32 is not the first attempt to import this ‘Made in the USA’ philosophy. In 1991, the Supreme Court of Canada rejected a constitutional challenge ... which relied upon the American jurisprudence...”
The Canadian Supreme Court has ruled “that to achieve their legitimate ends and maintain the proper balance between labour and management, unions must to some extent engage in political activities”.
The most fundamental problem with Bill 32 is “its general premise, that unions can be reduced to apolitical creatures without meaningfully impacting their core s.2(d)-protected functions, ignores the full historical & contemporary context of the labour movement in this country.”
