Province's goal is deunionization

Dr. Subba Muthu, The Leader-PostPublished: Thursday, May 29, 2008

Elections fought over union representation are institutionally different from political elections; employee-voters do not have the basic rights of industrial citizenship that the citizens of, say, Canada, have under the rights and freedoms of the Charter.
While the political system has the benefits of separation of powers and a system of checks and balances, the free-enterprise corporate system does not have such separations and checks. Such rudimentary statutory checks and other self-regulations are found, in practice, to be ineffective. They are like the proverbial watchdog that seldom barks, let alone bites.

Notwithstanding the Labour Standards Act, nonunion establishments are almost at the border of "employment-at-will". Corporate governance is presumed to be a purely private matter. The idea of elections, of voting, of employees' freedom of speech, are never considered. But when a union knocks at the door, employers suddenly prefer a full-fledged election process similar to that of a national election. They argue that because employees must be able to make "informed choices", the employer must have an equal opportunity to make the case against unionization and to persuade the employees that they would fare better under the existing regime of individual employment relations.

In elections over unions, however, every single vote is open to manipulation; it is standard practice for employers to exploit this opportunity. For example, managers may inflate the size of the bargaining unit to a level that is too large or too geographically dispersed to be organized. Virtually every dimension of the workplace -- walls, bulletin boards, meeting facilities, leaflet distribution, compulsory captive audience meeting, supervisors' one-to-one gentle admonitions with employees on the dangers of unionization, monitoring washrooms, coffee lounges and even parking lots become a forum for constant anti-union tirades. But pro-union information is prohibited and avoided like the plague.

This in contrast to election for public office, where equal time and equal access is guaranteed.

Read More from Dr. Subba Muthu HERE