Canadian Labour Reporter

3 Canadian HR Reporter, a Thomson Reuters business 2015 CANADIAN LABOUR REPORTER LOOKING BACK Looking back at 2015 We round up some of the year's top labour stories BY LIZ FOSTER AND SABRINA NANJI FEDERAL ELECTION The Liberals won a sweeping majority in the Oct. 19 federal election, with organized la- bour taking some credit following vigorous campaigns against the incumbent Conserva- tives. Most unions employed strategic vot- ing tactics — urging members to choose the candidate most likely to defeat the Conserva- tive opponent for that riding. The effort mir- rored the June 2014 "Stop Hudak" campaign from organized labour in Ontario's provincial election which helped give Premier Kathleen Wynne a Liberal majority. In our pre-federal election coverage, Uni- for president Jerry Dias said the sway and in- fluence of unions are not to be understated. "Our preoccupation is going to be getting out the message and making sure they get out to vote because there's no question we believe that if we mobilize our members, then they can make a difference in this federal election," he said at the time. CUPE OPPOSES PRIVATIZATION OF HYDRO ONE Sparks flew when the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) pushed back against the partial privatization of Hydro One in Ontario. Premier Kath- leen Wynne announced 60 per cent of the electricity utility would be sold to fund the government's infrastruc- ture plan in April. CUPE fought back, arguing the privatization runs afoul of the Electricity Act. The union retained Sack Goldblatt Mitchell as counsel and has invested hundreds of thousands of dollars in a campaign to educate the public about the potential problems with privatization. MOUNTIES WIN BARGAINING RIGHTS AT TOP COURT Up until January, the country's top police had been the only force with- out the right to collectively bargain — that is, until a decision at the Supreme Court turned that rule on its head. Earlier this year, the RCMP and its employer, the federal Treasury Board and public safety ministry, listened to the final decision in a case for the right to collectively bargain, which the Mounties initially brought to an Ontario courtroom in 2006. In its 6-1 decision, the Supreme Court of Canada determined the de- nial of the right to form a union and collectively bargain an employment agreement violated the RCMP's right to freedom of association, which is guaranteed in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. PUBLIC SECTOR WORKERS FORM STRIKE COALITION Hundreds of thousands of public sector workers took to the streets of Quebec in Oc- tober to protest lagging contract talks with the provincial government. The labour action was organized by the Common Front, a coalition of several pub- lic sector unions including the Secrétariat Intersyndical des Services Publics, the Con- fédération des Syndicats Nationaux and the Fédération des Travailleurs et Travailleuses du Québec. The unions launched rotating strikes across the province in protest of the govern- ment's proposed wage freeze. Union mem- bers, in contrast, are calling for wage increas- es to end the pay disparity between public and private employees. SASKATCHEWAN FIXES ESSENTIAL SERVICES LAW The government of Saskatchewan introduced modified legislation after its essential services laws were struck down as unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of Canada. Bill 183, other- wise known as the Saskatchewan Employment (Essential Services) Amendment Act, was in- troduced in the provincial legislature in Octo- ber and passed in November. Previous prac- tice was shot down after a legal challenge from organized labour. As part of the changes — the result of consultations with unions and public sector workers — the definition of "essential services" will be removed and the affected par- ties will determine what duties must be main- tained. ONTARIO TEACHERS' UNREST After months of unrest, which saw a la- bour board hearing and many strikes, Ontario's teachers inked tentative agreements with the provincial govern- ment in November. Negotiations in the preceding months managed to churn out five deals with the province's el- ementary, secondary, francophone and Catholic teachers' unions. That these talks were the first to take place under Ontario's new bargaining design served as a litmus test for the two-tiered method. That meant trustee associations and school boards were to join unions and the government at the table. That cre- ated difficulty for this round of negotia- tions, according to the teacher unions. Negotiations under the two-tiered system took a toll on both the govern- ment and unions, with both parties ad- mitting challenges. In particular, unions said the bar- gaining process should be revamped before the next round of negotiations in order to ensure efficiency. Photo: Mark Blinch (Reuters) Photo: Dan Riedhuber (Reuters) Photo: Mark Blinch (Reuters)

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