Alberta happy with Labour Relations Code

The Alberta government has accepted the report from a committee — made up of three MLAs — to not conduct a general review of the province’s Labour Relations Code.

“Based on feedback from over 300 stakeholders and interested public members, the committee concluded that the Labour Relations Code is continuing to balance the needs of employers and employees and is working well,” said Clint Dunford, Alberta’s Human Resources and Employment Minister. “(It) does not need a major overhaul at this time.”

The province also decided not to pursue two of the recommendations in the report. The report recommended a review of labour relations in the health-care sector, something that Clint Dunford, Alberta’s Human Resources and Employment Minister, said has already been addressed with Bill 27.

“Bill 27 has dealt with the majority of labour issues that were facing this sector,” said Dunford.

In addition, Dunford said that he has no plans to review the organization of agriculture workers considering the current challenges in the agriculture sector.

But the province is going to take a look at practices in the construction industry.

Construction industry voices concerns

MLA Richard Marz, chair of the MLA committee that penned Final Report: Government MLA Committee Considering a Review of the Labour Relations Code, said the majority of feedback received regarded Alberta’s construction industry.

“We heard serious concerns about certain labour practices in this industry,” said Marz.

The committee heard from employers, employer associations, trade unions, labour umbrella groups and the public.

Dunford acknowledged the need for further study in the construction sector, and said the government will ask the MLA committee to conduct a review of “salting” and “merfing” practices in the construction industry. Salting refers to the practice whereby union supporters actively attempt to seek employment with non-union employers for the direct purpose of organizing. Merfing, or “market enhancement recovery funds”, involves the creation of a recovery fund by the union to assist union contractors when bidding against non-union competitors. The committee is expected to finish its report by Oct. 31, 2003.

Dunford also agreed with the committee’s recommendation that no further review of general certification and revocation procedures or first agreement legislation is required. But there will be further study internally by the government into the province’s secondary picketing provisions.

Government response to the report

Here are the recommendations from the report, and the corresponding responses from the government:

Government MLA Report Recommendation	Response	Action
No general review at this time of Alberta's labour laws. The Labour Relations Code continues to be an effective and fair piece of legislation. (Recommendation #1	Accept	No action required.
Review construction sector labour relations including construction sector certification and revocation, merfing and salting. (Recommendations #2-4)	Modify	Establish a committee including the MLAs that examined the Code to review merfing and salting only.
Undertake comprehensive study of health care labour relations. (Recommendation #5	Reject	Study not appropriate while Bill 27 transition process underway. No review at this time.
AHRE Minister should defer to MLA Committee examining Emergency Medical Services. (Recommendation #6)	Accept	No action required.
Undertake formal review of province's secondary picketing provisions. (Recommendation #7)	Accept	The formal review will include legal and legislative analysis of issue to be conducted by AHRE with the assistance of Alberta Justice. If changes to legislation are required, AHRE will present options for the Minister's consideration.
Undertake review of agricultural labour relations as soon as possible. (Recommendation #8)	Reject	No review required at this time. A review is not appropriate at this time.
Certification and revocation general procedures - no further study of this issue required at this time. (Recommendation #9)	Accept	No action required.
First Agreement Legislation - no further study of this issue required at this time. (Recommendation #10)	Accept	No action required.