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The Vote versus Card-Check Debate Again: Saskatchewan

by David Doorey June 17, 2008
written by David Doorey June 17, 2008

The Saskatechewan Party, following on the heals of Mike Harris’s Conservative Party in Ontario and Gordon Campbell’s Liberal Party in B.C., intend to make significant changes to provincial labour laws.  A common staple of all conservative reforms in labour law is a move from a card-check to a mandatory ballot model of union certification.  Usually, this change is explained by the government as a way to ‘restore democracy’ to the process, but that is just political spin.  If the governments were really concerned about creating a fair and balanced vote, they would ensure that unions have equal (or at least some) access to workers at the workplace.  Instead, governments who favour mandatory ballots also favour a system that gives employers unfettered access to workers during working hours to persuade them to reject unions (in “captive audience meetings“) and the simulataneous right to prevent union organizers from speaking to workers anywhere on company property!  How is that a fair and balanced process?  In Britain, employers are required to let unions hold meetings with employees during working hours to discuss the benefits of unionization.  Even in the U.S., unions are provided with the home addresses of workers so they can discuss unionization with them away from the workplace.  Why do you think unions aren’t given either of these access rights in Canada?
I have never bought into the idea that a mandatory ballot is more democratic than having 60 or 70 percent of the workforce sign cards indicating they wish the union to represent them.  (See the debate I had last year in the National Post with columnist Susan Martinuk).  While ‘votes’ sound nice in theory, in practice, employers can and often do influence the outcome of votes by threatening that bad things could happen if the union wins the vote.  Is a vote democratic if employees are told they will be killed if the union wins (see Baron Metal), or if the employer tells them that the workplace will close and move to Mexico if the union wins?  The key to understanding this debate is recognizing that all the union ‘wins’ when it obtains certification is a chance to bargain an agreement that a majority of employees will vote for in a ratification vote.  That’s all.  If the union can’t prove its salt in bargaining, it will be booted out.   There is nothing anti-democratic about that process as far as I can tell.
The real policy reason to move from a card-check to a ballot model is to discourage unionization. As a number of studies have proven  (See, for example, Chris Riddell’s paper. ) union success rates in organizing campaigns fall dramatically under a ballot model.  But it’s impossible to know whether that is because the votes are ‘more democratic’ than a majority card-check model, or because employers’ are better able to interfere with free choice of the employees under a vote model.  

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David Doorey

Professor Doorey is an Associate Professor of Work Law and Industrial Relations at York University. He is the Director of the School of HRM at York and Director of Osgoode Hall Law School’s executive LLM Program in Labour and Employment Law and on the Advisory Board of the Osgoode Certificate program in Labour Law. He is a Senior Research Associate at Harvard Law School’s Labor and Worklife Program and a member of the International Advisory Committee on Harvard University’s Clean Slate Project, which is re-imaging labor law for the 21st century

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RSandillRicha Sandill@RSandill·
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@SCLSclinic and I were so fortunate to represent this client last year. I am thrilled that this decision brings more clarity for family status accommodations rights amidst a pandemic that has tested parents, caregivers, and families like never before. https://twitter.com/CanLawWorkForum/status/1364605259071561730

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TheLawofWorkDavid J. Doorey@TheLawofWork·
24 Feb

Here's my latest in @jacobinmag.

If Ontario's labor laws applied in Alabama, the Amazon vote would have been held months ago so workers could get back to their jobs. Instead, the NLRA permits Amazon to conduct a months' long onslaught of anti-union propaganda. https://twitter.com/jacobinmag/status/1364613560425275392

Jacobin@jacobinmag

Amazon workers in Alabama are voting on whether to unionize, but the company is bombarding them with anti-union propaganda. In Canada, by contrast, votes are held quickly, making it harder for companies to stack the deck — a model that can work in the US. http://jacobinmag.com/2021/02/amazon-alabama-canada-labor-law-union-vote

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CanLawWorkForumCLWF@CanLawWorkForum·
24 Feb

New from @RSandill (counsel for applicant), discussing important new "family status" discrimination decision from OHRT:

"Kovintharajah v. Paragon Linen & Laundry: When Failure to Accommodate Child Care Needs is “Family Status” Discrimination"

https://lawofwork.ca/13360-2/

Reply on Twitter 1364605259071561730Retweet on Twitter 13646052590715617304Like on Twitter 13646052590715617304Twitter 1364605259071561730
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