Imagine if every time you got a pay cheque your employer had skimmed a bit off and sent it to either the Sask Party or the NDP?
Wouldn’t you be outraged (especially if you disagreed with their views) that your hard earned money was used to fund them?
Unfortunately for some unionized employees in Saskatchewan, that troubling scenario is actually a reality. However, the good news is the Saskatchewan government is currently reviewing the laws that allow this to happen - Saskatchewan’s current labour legislation.
If they truly care about the plight of hard-working Saskatchewan citizens, here’s a few places they can start to make changes:
First, every pay period in Saskatchewan, unionized workers across the province are forced to pay union dues. Many unions in turn take some of those funds and use them for politics and other non-bargaining activities.
For example, last year the NDP received $325,552 in union donations and the Sask Party received $10,752.
Thus, you could detest politics entirely, but if you’re unionized by one of the unions that donated to those parties, you’d still be forced to sacrifice some of your pay cheque.
Alternatively, a union might use some of your pay cheque to run political advertisements you don’t agree with or donate funds to a charity that is not on your priority list. Your preference might be to instead send those funds to your local church or perhaps spend them on a pack of beer.
Whatever the case may be, workers shouldn’t be forced to fund activities they don’t support. The government should change existing labour legislation to restrict union dues to bargaining activities. That way unionized worker’ money is spent in their workplace and the extra – well, workers would get to decide how it is spent.
Second, the provincial government should stop using public funds and resources to collect union dues. You see every pay period government employees have to figure out the union dues for unionized government employees and ensure the funds are sent to the respective union.
Thus, taxpayers end up footing the bill for all the collection work behind the scenes.
Meanwhile, local hockey beer leagues, the red hat society and other groups to which government employees belong have to collect their own membership dues and other fees. Unions should have to do the same. And while the government is at it, they should free businesses from being forced to collect the dues of unions as well.
Finally, some have argued the minimum wage should increase automatically with inflation. While the recommendation is likely well intentioned (to help low income people), it actually doesn’t work.
If a business is forced by the government to raise the minimum wage tomorrow, many businesses will just raise prices to pay for it. Thus, the minimum wage earner may see a small rise in pay, but they’ll pay more for goods and services. Meanwhile, low-income earners just above the minimum wage level will only see a rise in prices.
A better solution is to hike the basic personal amount – the amount of money one can earn before paying taxes. Saskatchewan’s threshold is $14,942, but it still lags Alberta’s threshold of $17,282.
As you can see, changing labour legislation can save taxpayers money. Thankfully, having your say isn’t a labour intensive process – simply call or email your local MLA.
Colin Craig is the Prairie Director for the Canadian Taxpayers Federation
