Sask. strike law not best option
If imitation indeed is the sincerest form of flattery, almost lost in the Senate soaps and a 322-page budget implementation omnibus bill was a federal nod to Saskatchewan’s controversial essential services law.
The law basically gives the government disproportionate power in determining which employees should be deemed essential in case of a strike. Although the Brad Wall government had legitimate reasons to be concerned about threats from its unionized workers that they would, for example, stop snowplowing highways during a blizzard, the legislation was so heavy-handed that it created instances where more workers were deemed essential than actually worked in some offices.
To his credit, Labour Minister Don Morgan wrote to Saskatchewan Federation of Labour president Larry Hubich on Valentine’s Day last year suggesting that while the government remains committed to protecting the health and safety of citizens in case of a public-sector strike or lockout, the best way to do that is “for government and organized labour to work together.”
That said, Premier Wall made it clear in the throne speech Wednesday that his government is committed to amending the Saskatchewan Employment Act this session to include the essential services law. One hopes the commitment to consult was sincere.
Even so, the federal government may not be following the best practice by emulating Saskatchewan’s essential services law with its commitment, laid out with minimal details, in its budget omnibus bill. To be fair, it is difficult to know just what the Conservative government has in mind, considering Saskatchewan’s law is being tested before the Supreme Court — a body the Harper government also committed to change in the same omnibus bill.
In an interview with an Ottawa radio station, Treasury Board President Tony Clement, whose duty it will be to carry out the essential service law, insisted he won’t release any details about who it will affect or how it will be implemented until after the law is passed.
There is speculation, however, that the government will use the legislation to further batter federal public sector unions in an effort to appease the Conservative base while furthering the battle against organized labour that it hopes to make a central issue in the next election campaign.
If the government’s desire was to ensure the health and safety of Canadians while helping to reduce the deficit, it would be better off looking to British Columbia than Saskatchewan for a strategy. By using the 20-year-old Public Sector Employers’ Council, the Christy Clark government not only has been able to offer its employees wage hikes of between 3.5 and four per cent over two years, but it hasn’t had to cut spending, increases taxes or fire people to cover the cost of the compensation.
The council has used a system of co-operation that ties wage increases to efficiencies. As well, a series of small changes, such as switching to generic drugs and changing mailing procedures, has made winners of both workers and taxpayers.
Such a strategy may not feed the red-meat base, but it could contribute to a better Canada. The editorials that appear in this space represent the opinion of The StarPhoenix. They are unsigned because they do not necessarily represent the personal views of the writers. The positions taken in the editorials are arrived at through discussion among the members of the newspaper’s editorial board, which operates independently from the news departments of the paper.