sacrificing the rights of workers
TRANSCRIPT
8/8/2019 Sacrificing the Rights of Workers
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Keith Godin and
Niels Veldhuis
Despite mananng om o mo
ro-unon labour rlaon law n Nor
Amrca, cang mad by Onaro
govrnmn n 2005 urr ld bal-
anc o owr oward unon ( Go-
dn et al ., 2006). T n nwly-lcd
McGuny govrnmn clamd a
cang romod “grar arn and
balanc” (Onaro, 2005). I’ ard o
ow. T govrnmn rmovd cr bal-
lo vong rqurmn o cry a unon
and rord ably o oaqu
Onaro Labour Rlaon Board (OLRB),
organzaon cargd w admn-
rng labour rlaon law, o auoma-
cally cry unon. Nw vdnc ow
wy unon crd cang.
T McGuny govrnmn mad a
o o cang o rovnc’ labour
rlaon law, uc a rducng m-
loy’ ably o acc normaon on
dcrcaon, ralng unon alary
dclour, and ncrang OLRB’
owr o rna rd mloy. wo
o mo gncan cang wr r-
lad o crcaon acv: ro-
c by wc unon bcom bar-
ganng agn or a grou o workr.
Fr, rqurmn or cr ballo vong o arov a unon wa lmnad
or conrucon cor and rlacd
w a card-cck ym. Undr a card-
cck ym, unon ar auomacally
crd a majory o workr (55%)
gn unon mmbr card.
T mo gncan roblm w
card-cck a y ar nrnly
conronaonal and can ubjc workr
o drc rur rom unon organzr
and co-workr (Clmn and Godn,
2008). Unon organzr and workr
wo wan unon rrnaon ar abl
o go o om o or workr or
aroac m n ublc lac o ry
o ruad m o gn unon mm-
br card. T u o card-cck
alo man dcon mad n avour or
agan unon organzaon wll b ub-
lcly known.
In addon, undr a card-cck
ym, many mloyr only bcom
awar o unonzaon camagn onc
y ar vrually coml. A a r-
ul, unon on only ourc
o normaon or workr, ndrng
r ably o mak normd dcon.
Workr mu av acc o a ull rang
o normaon rgardng c o
r dcon.
Scond, govrnmn xandd
ably o OLRB o rmdally
(auomacally) cry unon. In lg
o ac a OLRB a bn
ound o b on la ranarn la-
bour rlaon board n Nor Amrca
( Karabgovc et al ., 2005), gvng
board mor dcron o dcd work-
r’ a ardly an mrovmn n bal-
anc and arn. Mo jurdcon n
Nor Amrca r do no allow orrmdal crcaon or rm only
n ca wr r no raonabl
obly a a r lcon can b
ld (Godn et al ., 2006).
O cour, maur o knd ar
advocad by mo unon n Canada
bcau rmovng dmocrac ro-
c n unon crcaon ncra
ucc ra o unon organzng or.
A nw udy ubld by mo-
y Barkw (2008) n Canadian Public
Policy ound a 2005 cang ar
alrady avng an mac on vol-
um o unon organzng am and
r ucc ra. Sccally,
cang av ld o an avrag ncra
o vn nw barganng un crd
r mon. T ranla no an ovr-
all ncra n crcaon ucc ra
o 10.2 rcnag on.
T udy alo ound a n-
cra n numbr o nw bargan-
ng un crd ad an c on
numbr o workr covrd by collcv
barganng agrmn. Ta , 2005
cang ncrad numbr o work-
r covrd by an avrag o abou 380
r mon.
T rul av bn corroborad
by a numbr o or acadmc ud-
. T rarc a connly own
a wn workr ar aordd o-
oruny o mak rva, anonymou
dcon roug cr ballo vong,
rul lowr lvl o unon cr-
caon (or xaml, Jonon, 2002;
Rddll, 2004; and Slnn, 2004). Had
rmoval o cr-ballo vong bn x-
ndd rom conrucon cor o
all ndur, rul would av
lkly bn vn mor damnng.T mac a cang av
ad u ar ju bgnnng. A
muc largr mac ould b xcd
n uur a ull c o
cang l.
T lmnaon o mandaory vo
or conrucon ndury and
ncra n owr gvn o On-
aro Labour Rlaon Board urr
Sacrificing the rights of workers
Ontario rules give balance of power to unions
8/8/2019 Sacrificing the Rights of Workers
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Fraser Forum 06/08 25 2www.fraserinstitute.org
Nadeem Esmail
he bgnnng o May mark nd o
ncom ax aon n Canada. Wl
ak o comlng our ronal ax r-
urn and z o o ax bll lowly
ad rom our mmor, om Canad-
an may nd mlv akng olac n
a bl a ax y ay—abou
on-rd o wc ar ncom ax
(Vldu and Palaco, 2008)—a la
urca a g qualy, unvral acc
al car rogram. Sccally, ovr
on-al o ronal ncom ax
Canadan ju ad n aggrga ar r-
qurd o covr co o our axayr-
undd al car rogram (Sac
Canada, 2007; calculaon by auor).
Unorunaly, a ollowng daa
clarly ow, Canada’ axayr ar
no rcvng am or o valu a
r counrar n or naon ar
wn com o unvrally accbl
al car nuranc.
o bgn w, Canadan ar undng
dvlod world’ rd mo xn-
v unvral acc al nuranc
ym. On an ag-adjud ba (oldr
ol rqur mor car) n mo
rcn yar or wc comarabl daaar avalabl, only Icland and Swzr-
land n mor (a a ar o GDP) on
r unvral acc al nuranc
ym an Canada dd. T or 25
dvlod naon wo manan un-
vral al nuranc rogram n
l an w dd—a muc a 38% l
(a a rcnag o GDP) n ca o
Jaan (Emal and Walkr, 2007).
Gvn lvl o xndur, you
mg xc a Canadan rcv
world-cla acc o al car. Bu
vdnc dmonra a no o.
Condr Canada’ wang l. In
2007, wang l or acc o al
car n Canada racd a nw all-m
g o 18.3 wk rom gnral rac-
onr rrral o ramn by a cal-
. D ubanal ncra n bo
al ndng and dral ca ran-
r o rovnc or al car ovr
la dcad or o, wa m
54% longr an ovrall mdan wa
m o 11.9 wk back n 1997 (Emal
and Walkr w Bank, 2007; Emal et
al ., 2007).
Canada’ wang l ar alo, ac-
cordng o avalabl vdnc, among
long n dvlod world. For
xaml, a 2007 urvy o ndvdual
n vn naon, x o wc manan
unvral acc al nuranc ro-
gram, ubld n journal Health Afairs ound a:
■ Canadan wr mor lkly o x-rnc wang m o mor an
Canada’s health care
system—poor valuefor your tax dollars
Further reading:How Good is Canadian Health Care?
by Nadeem Esmail and Michael Walker
Available at www.fraserinstitute.org.
ld balanc o owr n avour o
unon, rovdng m w grar n-
func n organzng drv. Wl
McGuny govrnmn old cang
a mrovmn a would romo
“arn and balanc,” cang avclarly akn rovnc n oo-
drcon.
References
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Clmn, Jaon, and K Godn (2008).
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