Amended Newfoundland labour law draws mixed reaction

A Newfoundland and Labrador labour leader is upset about amendments to labour law that make it more difficult for workers to join a union, but some argue the changes are required to improve the certification process.

“The bill was tabled, debated, passed and proclaimed in four days, and there are a couple of issues that we take exception to,” said Mary Shortall, president of the Newfoundland and Labrador Federation of Labour.

“One is the whole process, because the legislation was (previously) amended to include card-based certification, as part of a whole series of recommendations that went to government through a tripartite committee that reviewed the labour legislation, including the Labour Relations Act and the Public Sector Bargaining Act.”

The Progressive Conservative government in Newfoundland and Labrador passed amendments to the Labour Relations Act on June 6, which includes reversing union card-based certification.

Bill 22, which was introduced on June 2, rescinded labour law amendments that were made in 2012, as part of a four-year tripartite review process.

Shortall is upset with the implementation process for Bill 22, because unions were not consulted and given no notification about the changes.

“They sign a card and then they get a second vote in the employer’s workplace,” said Shortall.

“If there is less than a 70 per cent turn out to vote in the workplace, than the people who don’t show up are counted as a No vote. During the five days that you file for certification, there is ample time for the employer to put pressure on the workers not to sign a union card or not to vote.”

The new two-stage process involves the signing of a card, but certification is not automatic. There is also a secret ballot.

Shortall said the changes are fundamentally flawed and undemocratic.

Others disagree.

“Removing the secret vote and implementing card-based certification was never part of the tripartite discussion and meetings that happened between 2010 and 2012, before Bill 37 came into play,” said Paul Dube executive director of Merit Contractors Association of Newfoundland and Labrador.

“Business said removing the secret ballot was a contentious issue and everything that was discussed within this tripartite organization was all consensus based. That was not a consensus item, contrary to the Federation of Labour perspective.”

Dube said that after the consultation period the government decided to implement all the changes that it thought were appropriate, either consensus or non-consensus based.

“The government removed the secret ballot vote and inserted card-based certification and gave to business the request to vote on the most recent round of collective bargaining,” he said. “But, the impact of one against the other was much more severe in our perspective. So, we have been dealing with an imbalance for over two years that we were working with the government to rectify.”

Shortall argues the new process allows for aggressive and anti-union activity by employers, because the certification vote is held on the employers premises, with the employer present.

As a result, the employer has a free reign to suppress the Yes vote and gives voting powers to those who don’t cast a ballot. In addition, workers are required to put their ballot in a double envelope with their name on it.

In response, Dube said the government labour relations board monitors and verifies who actually submits the ballot. The process is controlled by a third-party, not labour or business.

“So, we as business owners don’t know who voted what,” he said.

“The labour relations board does.”

According to Shortall, it is hard to convince an employee that the owner is not on to them, when they are told to put a ballot in an envelope and then a second envelope with their name on it.

Dube argues the debate is not about the lack of a democratic process in terms of a secret ballot, but a flawed process.

“It is more about the process of how cards are collected, versus how a person in a room votes under rules that are structured, standardized and governed by the labour relations board,” he said.

“Whereas, the collection of a signed union card has absolutely no standards, no regulations and no oversight. There is no guarantee that the person who signed the card had all the information required.”

Card-based certification was used in the Newfoundland and Labrador before 1994 and 65 per cent of the vote was required for certification.

Shortall believes that Bill 22 was passed by the PC government in an effort to gain the support of business in the run up to the next provincial election.

The next general election was originally scheduled for Oct. 13, 2015, under Newfoundland and Labrador’s House of Assembly Act, which mandates a fixed election day. However, Premier Kathy Dunderdale resigned on Jan. 24 and PC party is expected to elect a new leader on Sept. 13.