Time to clip union power in Canada

Written by Joseph C. Ben-Ami, Policy Studies The recent decision by the Ontario English Catholic Teachers Association (OECTA) to increase its members’ dues by $60 to fund an anti-Progressive Conservative Party campaign during this fall’s provincial election has been rightly criticized by a number of groups and individuals. In fact, the OECTA decision is just the tip of the iceberg, and a reminder of how bad labour laws in Canada are at protecting individual workers from abuse at the hands of powerful mega-unions.

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Neither Canadians, nor their political leaders, seem to grasp just how far behind the rest of the developed world we are when it comes to defending these rights. Only in Canada can workers be forced to join a union as a condition of employment, and even in those places where workers are not forced to join the union, they still have to pay full union dues. The only way workers in Canada can legally opt out of joining a union – or paying dues if not actually forced to join – is if they have a religious objection to union affiliation. Even then, opting out does not entitle workers to keep their money. Instead of going to the union, the dues are re-directed to a charity the union approves. The above arrangement is referred to as the Rand Formula after Supreme Court Justice Ivan Rand who, in an arbitration decision settling a strike at Ford Motor Company in Windsor, ruled that employers must deduct and turn over to the union, dues from all employees including non-members. Rand explained that this was because all workers benefited from the union’s collective bargaining.

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