LABOUR LAWS
Sask. Party introduces new labour legislation
REGINA — Labour Minister Don Morgan says he expects union and business groups to take issue with some aspects of broad new employment legislation, although he was surprised overall by shared views he heard while consulting organizations about the bill.
“I went into it with the idea that consultation would never lead to consensus and I think that’s probably still right, but I think the consultation has found more common ground than I thought existed,” Morgan told reporters Tuesday. “I don’t expect at the end of the day that I’m going to have both the business groups and the unions saying this is great — they’re all going to find some things that they like and some things that they don’t like. But I think what we’ve done is we’ve found some things that are fair and we’ve moved ourselves to a position where we’re consistent with most other jurisdictions.”
The process of reviewing the province’s labour laws and combining 12 existing pieces of legislation into one new Saskatchewan Employment Act began in May. The government was criticized for holding no public meetings during its 90-day consultation period. But it received more than 3,800 written submissions and Morgan met with an advisory committee.
Many points raised in a discussion paper that proved particularly controversial were taken off the table early on, the minister said Tuesday, the day the legislation was introduced. Morgan acknowledged that unintended consequences of the legislation might be identified and he invited people to submit feedback before March 1, noting amendments could be made in the house.
Morgan said union and business groups shared interests in areas such as getting parties to the bargaining table more quickly. He acknowledged new financial disclosure rules could be burdensome for very small union locals and said that will be examined. He also noted revised essential services laws are not yet included in the act pending the results of a court appeal, but said he thinks it’s likely the government will get an extension on a nextyear deadline for that.
Leaders from labour and business gave cautiously optimistic comment Tuesday on the bill.
“Obviously, it’s comprehensive and covers a lot of ground,” Saskatchewan Federation of Labour president Larry Hubich told reporters. “There are some positives in the legislation, but we do need to take a look at it.”
Hubich said unions are OK with ideas around providing financial details to their members and enforcing their own constitutions, but don’t want to be treated differently than other organizations. He expressed support for plans to index minimum wage, but raised concerns around the overall process of developing the new bill.
While the consultation was encouraging compared to the essential services situation, there is room for improvement, Hubich continued.
“I’m not at all surprised that there’s consensus ... around the development of good public policy,” he said. “The way you get good public policy is when you engage in a dialogue that’s respectful.”
Marilyn Braun-Pollon, Prairie vice-president for the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, said the small business lobby has been trying to modernize the province’s labour legislation for decades and the bill represents a “start in the right direction.
“The world of work has changed dramatically over the last 25 years, but certainly the regulations around the workplace haven’t. There are number of steps that will provide that workplace flexibility,’’ she said, citing the ability of employers to implement four, 10-hour workdays per week without a permit.
“But there are some concerns about the indexation of the minimum wage,” Braun-Pollon added, noting that could be balanced by a two-tier minimum wage, lower for service-industry workers who receive tips.
Steve McLellan, CEO of the Saskatchewan Chamber of Commerce, said that group has been calling for “greater balance” and “transparency” in labour laws and that, “We think this moves us further this way.”
He said requiring unions to file audited financial statements levels the playing field with voluntary business organizations such as the chamber. Similarly, unions should be able to demonstrate they’re acting in the best interest of their members by making the results of votes public, he added.
“THERE ARE SOME POSITIVES IN THE LEGISLATION, BUT WE DO NEED TO TAKE A LOOK AT IT.”
LARRY HUBICH
Opposition NDP labour critic David Forbes offered several concerns, particularly around allowing the use of prepaid cards in place of paycheques. Payroll cards are to be used in areas where banks or other financial institutions aren’t available and might involve fees.
“This would introduce a new system of paying (employees) that we didn’t hear called for ... We’re not sure what this means,” Forbes said.
And broadening the definition of supervisory employees could be used to move employees currently unionized out of scope, he noted. “We have a lot of concerns about that. At best it creates a lot of bureaucracy and at worst it creates division in the workplace.”