Canadian Labour Reporter

CANADIAN LABOUR REPORTER 7 Canadian HR Reporter, a Thomson Reuters business 2013 Continued from page 1 Photo: Mike Sturk (Reuters) process. Some of us may agree with the process or not, but it doesn't matter, it's a valid tactic. No one has a democratic right to execute illegal strikes, but if you do, then there has to obviously be consequences, and they're dual. There has to be some punitive measures, some deterrent, but you also should be responsible for covering the cost that was incurred as a result." Fuelling the motivation for Bills 45 and 46 is that the wounds from a wildcat strike at Alberta's jails have yet to heal. Last spring, correctional officers at the Edmonton Remand Centre (represented by the AUPE) initiated a wildcat strike, prompting the province to bring in replacement RCMP officers to step in at their posts. The illegal strike cost taxpayers $9 million and put the workers and the public in danger, Lukaszuk added. As a result, Bill 46 — a one-time bargaining chip — is in- tended to get negotiations rolling and put an end to what Lu- kaszuk called a misuse of binding arbitration. "Arbitration is a very essential part of this entire process," he said, adding its function is to ease a deadlock between butting heads. "It is not designed for either the employer or the union to say, 'No, I'm going for binding arbitration because I think I may get a better deal than actually negotiating with you.'" But the move has forever soured the bond between the gov- ernment and its staff, according to the union. "The relationship with the government is completely frac- tured," Smith said. "We've been through some scrapes the last little while. We've been an effective voice across the province protesting cuts and privatization, obviously the wildcat strike in the spring at our correctional facilities. Even before all this, the relationship with the government was tenuous, and now it's been completely destroyed." Where does it end? Perhaps the most chilling notion stemming from both labour laws is that this so-called exit strategy could snowball. If gov- ernments can push legislation through that bypasses key pro- cesses when negotiations fail, where will it end? While that debate is being fought in the courtroom, Brian Lee Crowley, managing director at the Macdonald Laurier In- stitute, an Ottawa-based public policy think tank, said checks should be put into place to limit illegal strikes. Especially in the public sector, the strike can be used as a distinct weapon. "In the private sector, if you're a unionized auto worker and you go on strike at Ford, there are still going to be cars made by Hyundai and GM and Honda. So unionized employees in the private sector generally don't have the ability to cause an en- tire service to be withdrawn," he explained. "But because most government services are provided only by government — health care, education — if the unionized employees withdraw their service, it's withdrawn from everybody." That effectively makes the public a third-party during nego- tiations. If the public is inconvenienced on a large scale (typical of public sector strikes), the government is under more pressure to settle a deal. Curbing striking abilities might be the key, but both parties need to be kept in check, according to Crowley. "I think the argument is, public sector strikes tilt the balance in favour of workers, but you wouldn't want to let governments set the wages unilaterally," he said. "You always want there to be some reasonable balance." Premier Alison Redford made waves in December when her government passed Bills 45 and 46. Under the new laws, an illegal strike can set a union back $1 million per day and AUPE members were denied binding arbitration for the current round of bargaining — much to the dismay of unions. Province still wounded from last wildcat strike

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