Canadian Labour Reporter

LABOUR BRIEFS 2 Canadian HR Reporter, a Thomson Reuters business 2014 Canada Labour Code changes OTTAWA — Amendments to the Canada Labour Code (CLC) aim to regulate com- plaints and wage claims. Introduced under Division 10 of the Jobs and Growth Act 2012, the changes implement a new process for making com- plaints to an Employment and Social Development Canada- Labour Program inspector as well as expand the powers of inspectors to facilitate settle- ments, suspend investigations and reject complaints. Inspectors can reject a com- plaint based on a reason listed in the CLC or suspend it if the inspector feels the parties would benefit by pursuing an- other avenue. Much of Division 10 focused on deadlines. A time limit for employers to provide workers with vacation pay was intro- duced while restrictions were put on employees applying for payment of wages or other such monies. The amendments require wage and payment recovery complaints be made within six months and that the "look-back" period for payment orders be limited to the period starting one year prior to the date of com- plaint or date of termination. An effort to provide structure to the complaints and claims processes, the reforms are in- tended to bring the CLC into line with provincial employment and labour standards. The amendments came into effect on April 1, 2014. Halifax port workers pen new deal HALIFAX — More than 400 workers at the Halifax port have ratified a new collective agreement. Signed at the beginning of April, the deal covers about 300 longshoremen, foremen and walking bosses, as well as about 70 checkers and 70 gear repair men working at the Port of Hali- fax, who had been without a con- tract since Dec. 31, 2013. Both the federal labour min- istry, the Halifax Employers As- sociation and the Halifax Long- shoremen's Association ratified the contract with the help of the federal mediation and con- ciliation service, which provides dispute resolution and dispute prevention assistance to trade unions and employers. The Halifax Freight and Steamship Checkers Union and the Halifax Gear Repair and Maintenance Men were also in- volved. According to Employment and Social Development Can- ada, 94 per cent of collective bargaining negotiations in the federal labour force were resolved without a work stop- page when the mediation ser- vice was involved. The Halifax port serves as a gateway for trade to and from North America and handles a wide range of cargo to and fro 150 countries worldwide. As many as 657 positions will be cut over a period of two years as the CBC copes with a massive budget shortfall. Following the loss of the rights to broadcast "Hockey Night in Canada," the broadcaster re- ported cuts to its budget amounting to $130 million. The CBC will no longer pursue the rights to broadcast professional sports, saying it is unable to compete with private rivals and specialty channels. FORMERLY CLV REPORTS Serving labour relations professionals since 1956 www.labour-reporter.com Published weekly by omson Reuters Canada Ltd. Subscription rate: $595 per year Customer Service Tel: (416) 609-3800 (Toronto) (800) 387-5164 (outside Toronto) Fax: (416) 298-5106 Email: carswell.customerrelations@ thomsonreuters.com Website: www.carswell.com Director, Carswell Media Karen Lorimer Publisher John Hobel Managing Editor Todd Humber News Editor Sabrina Nanji | (416) 649-9348 sabrina.nanji@thomsonreuters.com News Editor Liz Foster | (416) 298-5129 liz.foster@thomsonreuters.com Marketing Co-ordinator Travis Chan | (416) 609-5872 travis.chan@thomsonreuters.com © 2014 Carswell, a division of omson Reuters Canada Ltd. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the written permission of the publisher. e publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting or other professional advice. If legal or other expert assistanceis required, the services of a competent professional should be sought. e analysis contained herein represents the opinion of the authors and should in no way be construed as being either offi cial or unoffi cial policy of any governmental body. ISSN 0045-5113 Publications Registration 2089 Canadian Labour Reporter is part of the Canadian HR Reporter group of publications. Visit www.hrreporter.com for more information. Labour Reporter Canadian www.labourreporter.com Credit: Mark Blinch (Reuters) LABOUR LENS New look, same great content WELCOME TO the newly redesigned Canadian La- bour Reporter. We've taken the country's most popular source for collective agree- ments and labour relations news and given it a fresh look. It still features the same great content — collective agreement summaries from every industry and sector across Canada, arbitration rulings and in-depth cover- age of the latest labour news and trends. But we've added new ele- ments, including more colour, a fresh font and more graph- ics throughout the issue. And we're introducing some excit- ing new elements to the print issue. The back page of every issue has been dedicated to new features, including Q&As with thought leaders; FaceOff, which takes a look at two sides of the same issue; in- fographics; and the latest CPI and unemployment figures. We've also moved more items to the cover — our col- lective agreements coverage starts on page one, as do our arbitration summaries. One key change we made recently isn't visible in this print issue — but every collec- tive agreement posted online as of January 2014 also con- tains a PDF copy of the origi- nal agreement, an invaluable reference when you're look- ing for more information. We hope you like what you see. If you have any thoughts on the new look or what you'd like us to cover, drop us an email at todd.humber@ thomsonreuters.com.

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