Critics say new labour code endangers workers
OTTAWA — New federal labour code regulations introduced in the Conservative government’s fall budget bill will gut health and safety protections for Canadian workers and make it more difficult for employees to refuse to work in unsafe conditions, say opposition parties and labour groups.
But the Conservative government maintains workers will still be able to refuse dangerous work, and that the changes are designed to improve workplace safety and direct health and safety officials to where they are most needed.
The changes unveiled in the Harper government’s sweeping 321-page fall budget implementation bill will redefine what is considered “danger” in federally regulated workplaces and retool the “refusal to work process,” states the budget document.
As well, the legislative amendments will “remove all references to health and safety officers and to confer on the Minister of Labour their powers, duties and functions.”
The changes would apply to approximately 10 per cent of the Canadian workforce — between 1.5 million and two million Canadian workers — who fall under federal jurisdiction, according to the Canadian Labour Congress.
Affected sectors include telecommunications, rail, transport, airlines, the federal public service and others, says the CLC, with the remaining workers covered by provincial labour codes.
“It really is an affront to the protection of workers from harm and danger in the workplace,” said Hassan Yussuff, secretary-treasurer with the Canadian Labour Congress, which represents 3.3 million Canadian workers.
Ottawa, however, maintains the proposed reforms will not reduce the number of health and safety officers, but ensure their time is used more effectively to enforce labour laws in truly dangerous workplaces.
Handing the powers of health and safety officers to the minister will allow her to delegate specific expertise on workplace safety files, the government says, and ensure a consistent response and application of the rules across the country.
Workers will also continue to have the right to refuse work that is deemed unsafe, said federal Labour Minister Kellie Leitch.
“We will now be able to focus on those places where there really is danger,” Leitch said Friday. “The intent here is let’s focus our resources where we seriously have problems.”
Federal officials say between 2000 and 2010, more than 80 per cent of the refusals to work were determined to be situations of “no danger,” even after allowing appeals.