The big reveal is expected next week on what was once a feature of changes of government in B.C. — a major rewrite of labour law.
It’s coming later than the traditional schedule from years gone by. New governments usually make it a higher priority. And it might not be as dramatic this time around.
Labour policy has been flip-flopping for generations. The NDP in the 1970s invented the labour code to recognize collective bargaining and give unions more clout.
The returning Socreds curtailed it somewhat. The Bill Vander Zalm government in the late 1980s tried to curb unions some more.
The subsequent Mike Harcourt NDP government adjusted the field the other way. The Glen Clark regime tried more moves, but had to back down amidst controversy.
Then it flipped back the other way when the B.C. Liberals took over in 2001.
Now it’s the NDP’s turn once again. Premier John Horgan wants to end secret ballots on union certification and switch to signed cards, viewed as a pro-union move.
But Green Party Leader Andrew Weaver balked at the idea right from the outset, and has promised his caucus won’t support an end to secret ballots. That support would be crucial for any changes to pass.
Labour Minister Harry Bains was mandated to review both the labour code and employment standards. He retained three labour lawyers to review the law last year, and the government has been considering their report since last summer.
On certification, the panel noted B.C. has switched four times between secret ballot and card checks. It recommended, on a split vote, that secret ballots be retained, provided measures to ensure free choice are in place.
Throughout the years of back-and-forth tinkering, union “density,” or percentage of membership, has declined in the private sector, due to forest-industry restructuring and the decline of manufacturing. The highest density is in the public sector (65 per cent).
Apart from the need to finesse Green support for any changes, the other thing that reduces the chance of any dramatic change is the panel’s outlook.
It said the number of pendulum swings over the past 30 years, depending entirely on whether a left- or right-wing government was in charge, “is not consistent with predictability, certainty or balance.”
“It is essential to avoid pendulum swings by implementing balanced changes that are sustainable.”
After consulting in the field, it found management and labour are lined up in their traditional positions.
Employers think the code is working well and changes could have unintended consequences. Unions say it’s unbalanced, inhibits bargaining and doesn’t provide sufficient protection for workers.
One area that’s ripe for attention is successorship, the concept that union contracts prevail through changes in ownership or management of an enterprise.
That was partially recognized years ago, but contract re-tendering is much more prevalent now.
The panel said often the same workforce provides the same services to the same clients, but they have to re-apply for their jobs and the union has to re-organize and negotiate a new contract.
B.C.’s health care is premised on contracting and sub-contracting food, building services, security and other services. The panel noted “disturbing anecdotal stories” about the effect. About 10,000 workers, many of them women from minorities, face reductions in wages and benefits through re-tendering.
The panel said one woman said she took a 50 per cent wage cut and loss of seniority. One seniors’ facility has changed contractors six times, it said, and the disruptions have profound implications, particularly since large multinationals and global equity funds are acquiring formerly B.C.-owned facilities.
It recommends successorship be recognized, retroactive to last summer, in certain public-sector categories.
In the forestry sector, which has changed massively since the last labour review, it found contracting out is the norm and it has fractured employment in what is now a precarious industry.
It recommends an industrial-inquiry commission to review that industry.
Another point of contention will be the inclusion of education as an essential service. Education is an essential service only in B.C., and the panel recommends narrowing the essential designation to designate only urgent situations, such as final exams, as essential.
