Canadian law with regard to unions and workers’ rights is sharply different from that of other western nations. Forcing workers to join a union as a condition of their employment is prohibited by law in most, and those individuals who exercise their right not to join a union are either exempted from paying dues altogether, or they - along with all members of the union - are entitled to a reduction in their dues if the money is spent on activities from which they derive no work-related benefit, or on causes with which they disagree.
In contrast to this, Canada allows collective bargaining agreements to stipulate that workers must join a union as a condition of employment, and where there is a union, but workers are not forced to join as a condition of employment, they still must pay full union dues regardless of whether or not they become a member.
The power of unions in Canada to either compel workers to join against their wishes, or to collect dues from those they do not force – and cannot convince – to join, is more than just extraordinary. It is unique among non-government institutions.
It is also a recipe for abuse.
A few years ago the Canadian Centre for Policy Studies released a discussion paper suggesting changes to Canada’s labour code that would protect the rights of workers under federal jurisdiction and significantly reduce this potential for abuse. These changes would allow unions to spend dues only on activities related to collective bargaining, or on programs that directly benefit workers and their families. They would also require unions to disclose their spending to the public annually. The paper called for similar changes to provincial laws.
The response from union big-wigs to these modest proposals was both swift and predictable. Ken Lewenza, president of the Canadian Auto Workers union, dismissed them outright, calling them “absurd” and a diversion from the real issues facing the Canadian economy, and telling reporters that “Unions are the most democratic institutions in the world.” Lewenza also told reporters that documents detailing union spending are already public, claiming that “anyone who wants it (sic) can see it” and that, in any event donations by unions to political parties are already banned in Canada.
Considering that they can make people join against their will, or collect dues from people who are not even members, the claim that unions are “the most democratic institutions in the world,” would seem a little exaggerated.
As is the claim that details of union spending are available to “anyone who wants it.” In fact, Section 110 of the Canada Labour Code only requires the disclosure of a limited amount of a unions’ financial information, and then only to union members who request it. The public – including workers who are not members of the union but still must pay full union dues – is not entitled to even this partial disclosure.
As for a ban on contributions to political parties, that only applies to federal political parties, not provincial (read NDP) parties. What’s more, the ban also does not apply to contributions to third-party advocacy groups that advance causes unrelated to the workplace that individual workers may not support. Even if unions are “the most democratic institutions in the world,” as Lewenza says – a dubious claim at best – the right not to be forced to contribute financially to causes and political parties that one does not support is an individual right that cannot be negated by a majority vote, especially if one is not even a member of the union and, therefore, cannot vote.
There is no denying that unions have, at times, played an important role in providing benefits to workers and protecting workers’ rights. Unfortunately, many of our laws and practices, originally intended to recognize that role and protect it, have eroded workers’ rights and opened the door to abuse, ironically at the hands of unions themselves.
Other countries recognize this and have modified their laws in an effort to restore a balance of power between union management and workers. It is time for Canada to do the same.