ILO,+CFA+Report+308

August 23, 1996 Legislative repeal of statutory access to collective bargaining, termination of existing organizing rights and nullification of collective agreements - enactment of Bill 7 and the Labour Relations Act lead to the withdrawal of access to collective bargaining for agricultural workers, domestic workers and specified professionals and **any** collective agreements pertaining to those workers have been **nullified** - these actions significantly undermine ILO principles and standards of freedom of association and collective bargaining Bill 7 prevents agricultural workers, domestic workers and certain specified professionals (architects, dentist, land surveyors, lawyers and doctors) access to collective bargaining and the right to strike. The Labour Relations Act establishes the rules and procedures regarding the certification and decertification of trade unions - employees not covered by the Labour Relations Act or any other statutory scheme are instead governed by the common law - vulnerable to penalties (including dismissal), employers under no legal obligation to bargain with employees over terms and conditions of employment - in essence, to be denied access to the statutory machinery of collective bargaining is to be denied access to collective in any meaningful sense Government’s arguments: - agriculture in Ontario is overwhelmingly dominated by family farms. The sector is characterized by extremely low profit margins and unstructured highly personal working relationships which make a statutory labour relations regime inappropriate - labour laws were originally enacted with industrial settings in mind and are not always suitable for non-industrial workplaces Art. 2 of Convention No.87 (ratified by Canada): principle of non-discrimination in trade union matters, freedom of association should be guaranteed without discrimination of any kind on occupation, etc… “one of the main objects of the guarantee of freedom of association is to enable employers and workers to form organizations independent of public authorities and capable of determining wages and other conditions of work by means of freely concluded collective agreements” - the right to strike may be restricted or prohibited only: (1) with respect to public servants exercising authority in the name of the State (2) in essential services in the strictest sense of the term - Committee does not believe that that agricultural activities constitute an essential service Recommendations by the Committee: (1) government should take all necessary steps to ensure that agricultural workers, domestic workers and certain professionals enjoy all the protection necessary, either through the LRA or other specific regulations, to establish and join organizations of their own choosing (2) no denial of the right to strike, with exception of medical professionals (3) government should take all the necessary measures to guarantee access for these workers to machinery and procedures for collective bargaining and to ensure that these workers enjoy effective protection from anti-union discrimination and employer interference (4) Bill 7: government should ensure that organizations created prior to creation of Bill 7 should be re-certified (5) Revalidate the collective agreements pertaining to agricultural workers and professional employees which had been entered into by virtue of the pre-1995 version of the LRA (6) Ensure that the right to organize and collective bargaining rights are adequately protected in building services
 * // Committee on Freedom of Association Report Canada //**
 * // The Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) //**
 * Issue ** : CLC argues that the Ontario Labour Relations and Employment Statute Law Amendments Act, 1995 (Bill 7) and the Ontario Labour Relations Act, 1995 violate ILO standards and principles concerning freedom of association and collective bargaining