Canadian Labour Reporter

Should Bill 183 pass, it will be left to the em- ployer and union to determine whether their service would be considered "essential." The Essential Services Tribunal — comprised of the chair or vice-chair of the labour relations board and an employer and union representa- tive each — would be a last resort if both par- ties could not agree. As well, a three-person panel for binding mediation-arbitration would be established for when an essential services agreement is found to substantially interfere with a strike or lockout. Where essential services are identi- fied, the cooling-off period would also drop from 14 days to seven. Background Saskatchewan's government, led by Premier Brad Wall, introduced its controversial essen- tial services legislation by amending the pub- lic services act shortly after coming to power in 2007. Those amendments, known as Bill 128, were legally challenged by the Saskatchewan Federation of Labour, which accused the gov- ernment of diminishing a public employee's right to strike. The fight went all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada, which voted 5-2 to scrap the legislation. Wall and his government were given one year to redraft the document. "Where strike action is limited in a way that substantially interferes with a meaningful process of collective bargaining, it must be re- placed by one of the meaningful dispute-reso- lution mechanisms commonly used in labour relations," the Supreme Court justices noted in the ruling. "Those public sector employees who pro- vide essential services have unique functions which may argue for a less disruptive mecha- nism when collective bargaining reaches an impasse, but they do not argue for no mecha- nism at all." According to Saskatchewan's Ministry of Labour and Workplace Safety, this most recent legislation was designed to lessen conflict and ease discussion between public sector employers and unions, particularly when determining whether that job would be deemed an essential service. "The Supreme Court did recognize in that ruling that essential services must be main- tained while respecting workers' rights to take job action," the government said in a state- ment. While the intent of the legislation is for both parties to successfully negotiate an es- sential services agreement, in cases of im- passe, a petition can be made to the provincial labour relations board, the ministry added. Better late than never: Union Larry Hubich, president of the Saskatchewan Federation of Labour (which represents more than 100,000 workers and 37 unions) praised the legislation as a good first step toward re- spectful collective bargaining in the prov- ince's public sector. "(Bill 183) is a substantial improvement on the previous version of essential services leg- islation, which was found to be unconstitu- tional by the Supreme Court of Canada," Hu- bich said. "It is my hope this new bill will set things on a good course while respecting the collective bargaining rights of working people who pro- vide essential services." One union went so far as to demand an apology from the Wall administration for the harm inflicted upon public workers. That the government was forced by the Supreme Court to treat workers fairly diminished meaningful collective bargaining, said Bob Bymoen, pres- ident of the Saskatchewan Government and General Employees' Union (SGEU). "The premier should offer a sincere apol- ogy for his government's reckless actions and for the harm done to union members and all working people," said Bymoen. "Tremendous effort and resources had to be marshalled by unions to counter this attack on public service workers. No group of citi- zens should be forced to go to such lengths to protect their basic constitutional rights." He added the SGEU will be taking a closer look at Bill 183, and that it is too early to as- sess the full impact of the legislation on union members. "With or without an essential services law, it is important to remember that in the rare instance of a public sector work stoppage, unions have always protected the public," Hu- bich added. Bill 183 will have to pass a second and third reading in the legislature before royal assent and implementation. 7 Canadian HR Reporter, a Thomson Reuters business 2015 CANADIAN LABOUR REPORTER NEWS < from pg. 1 Changes will ease determination process: Government Photo: David Stobbe (Reuters) Premier Brad Wall bore the brunt of union backlash for his now-amended essential services legislation. Under the new law, that determination will be left to unions and employers.

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