11 more deaths over the weekend brings B.C. total to 69

The B.C. government is doubling the time available for workers to organize into a union, but insists the change, made in the middle of the COVID -19 crisis, has nothing to do with the pandemic.

Labour Minister Harry Bains said a cabinet order last week to allow union sign-up cards to remain valid for six months, instead of three, was a lagging provision of a labour code law passed unanimously by all parties in the legislature in 2019.

“If I had my way, it would have been done a few months ago,” said Bains. “But I think the labour board took a bit longer.”

The order comes amid widespread layoffs, business closures and overall economic damage done by social distancing rules put in place last month to limit the spread of the coronavirus. But it is not related to the crisis, nor is it intended as a response to the labour challenges faced by COVID-19, said Bains.

“It would have happened whether COVID-19 (had occurred) or not,” he said.

The labour code changes, introduced in May 2019, shortened the required time to five business days from 10 days between an application for union certification. It also extended successorship provisions to help long-term care workers in senior care homes where companies could lay off entire staff by ending a contract and rehire them with lesser wages and benefits.

Extending membership cards to six months was one of the recommendations endorsed by labour and business leaders in a 2018 panel that formed the basis for the legislation. The rationale was to better recognize the modern economy, with small workplaces, staff turnover and people working from home, by giving them more time to unionize.