Secret-ballot union votes finalized as legislative session ends
CBC News | Posted: November 11, 2016 1:06 AM | Last Updated: November 11, 2016
A bill mandating a secret ballot vote every time workers try to organize a union passed at the legislature Thursday as the session wrapped up.
"Bill 7, The Labour Relations Amendment Act, is a significant legislative attack on the right of Manitobans to join a union," Kelly Moist, president of CUPE Manitoba, said in a release.
The amendments change how unions form, now requiring a secret ballot vote every time workers try to organize. It replaces the long-standing card check system that allows potential unions to skip the vote and form automatically if 65 per cent of workers sign union cards.
The bill has drawn strong opposition from the start. When the government tabled the bill in June, more than 60 members of Unifor descended on the Legislature to protest it, chanting and shouting in the gallery.
Moist cited a study by the International Monetary Fund that links increasing income inequality to lower union certification.
"The government heard no evidence that unions intimidate workers. There is ample evidence that mandatory balloting results in increased intimidation of workers. If [Premier Brian] Pallister proceeds with this change, it should be seen as an attack on all our rights," Moist said.
Pallister previously told the CBC the changes give workers privacy.
"I think our workers in Manitoba deserve to have the protection it offers, from coercion, from intimidation, from follow-up bullying as a consequence of whether they voted one way or another," said Pallister said.
CUPE represents more than 25,000 government employees.
The fall legislative session wrapped up Thursday. A new session will begin Nov. 21 with a throne speech.