March 10, 2007
Larry Miller
MP, Bruce-Grey, Owen Sound
Paul Steckle
MP, Huron-Bruce
Dear Larry and Paul;
In the next week or so private members bill C-257 will come to
the floor of the House of Commons and support of this bill
is a critical step in taking Canada forward into the 21st century
with a 21st century labour relations tool. It is time for a fresh
look at the relationship between employer and unionized workforce
when a labour dispute (strike or lock-out) occurs. Too
often the standard media perpetuated view of the two sides in
the dispute permeates the air waves and the newspapers to
the disservice of not only the two sides involved in the
dispute, but to the consumers of media services. The most common
examples are reports that either paint the Union as greedy
and without respect for the customers and / or public that use
the services or products of the strike bound organization, or
that depict the Employer as greedy and without compassion
for the workers. I guess I have to let my own bias show
here and say that if either of these scenarios is true, it is
the latter versus the former, but that is not the issue at hand.
The issue at hand is by far and wide the issue of responsibility
and fairness. As long as workers have been employed they
have had but one item to trade; their labour. As long as employers
have been around they have had various and often numerous tools
to use in their relationship with the workforce. The employer's
arsenal is held in check when their workforce is unionized as
the workers have a negotiated say in their contract with
the employer as it pertains to such things as working conditions,
hours of work, wages, disciplinary matters, promotions, and many
more. Non-unionized workers do not have this luxury, but that
to is for another time.
Our labour laws and various other laws that are in place
to protect workers and to ensure that employers clearly understand
their obligations to workers are anything but perfect. After all
we have health and safety laws, but over 1,000 workers still die
in Canadian workplaces every year, we have employment standards laws
in place yet non-unionized workers are still abused each
and everyday in Canadian workplaces. Am I insinuating we
would be better off without these laws; of course not, but I am
saying clearly that improvements, or as a good friend of mine
often says "we reserve the right to get smarter everyday", must
be on every MP's agenda. Improving all labour laws, and stopping the
use of replacement workers or "scabs" during a strike
or lock-out situation is one step in tooling and improving Canadian
Labour Relations for the 21st century and beyond.
As you approach the vote ask yourselves some questions, but ask
them without the rhetoric of the business lobby bouncing
around in your head:
1. If the use of replacement workers were made illegal as the
proposed bill states, not as is pumped out by the uninformed that
the bill will endanger essential services and unduly limit
the use of management personnel in a strike bound organization,
would the two sides in the dispute be forced to the table to negotiate?
2. If the two sides were forced to negotiate would the labour
dispute be significantly shortened?
3. Since some 30 % of your constituents, as with all MP's in Canada, are
union members do you view it as fair to allow employers to
hire in replacement workers to drag out a strike and as is often
the case, the employer tries to soften the resolve
of the union members during this needless extension of the dispute?
4. Do you think that any union membership anytime in
the last 70 years has chosen to strike as the preferred method
of solving a labour dispute?
I could provide many more questions for you, but if
you answer these honestly you will find it very easy to walk into
the House of Commons and support Bill C-257.
It is entirely unfair of me to answer the four questions for you,
but I will provide an answer or at least context to number four;
"no union membership takes lightly the withdrawal of the
only item they have to trade, their labour. Never forget, even
if strike pay is available, the income of the workers on the picket
line is either severely diminished or as in most cases totally
disappears. The only ethical thing for our legislators to
do is to enable an environment that gets the sides to the table
and forces them to stay at the table if for not for
any other reason than to end the suffering of the membership, or
in the case of the employer, end the financial stress on
the business as it cannot get product of service out the door.
When the withdrawal of services and labour does take place the
union membership does so not to cripple or destroy the employer,
but to ensure that they have the three things that every worker
is entitled to; a fair wage, a safe workplace, and respect. This
takes on various forms from workplace to workplace, but morally
it is what every employer must provide their workers.
If I can leave you with some statistics to help validate this
letter;
Experience has shown while 97% of federal employers settle
labour negotiations without a dispute, some managers have sought
a more confrontational path by using replacement workers. Bill
C-257 restores balance to avoid these regrettable situations caused
by a small minority of Canadian employers. It takes aim at the
less than 1% of companies who abuse workers through a range of
aggressive tactics.
Why is it important to provide at least one small statistic; as
MP's you must view the choice without the business lobby telling
you that this is a recipe for economic disaster and that this
will tip the balance of workplace power too far in the favour
of workers. If simply stopping the use of replacement workers
tipped the scale too far in the favour of workers then employers
have done a very poor job in protecting their investment as I
would suggest then that they have already divested themselves
of their "right to manage" that appears in every collective
agreement I am aware of.
Paul and Larry, "your ethics are what you do and how you
behave when nobody is watching". Do the ethical thing and
support workplace balance and fairness for workers and families.....vote
to support Bill C-257 and show the enlightend leadership that
is so badly needed in Canada.
Kindest Regards,
Dave Trumble
President
Grey-Bruce Labour Council