PSAC backs fight against religious symbols ban; The Leap workers join CUPE
Ontario should repeal Bill 124: OFL
TORONTO — Ontario unions renewed their call on June 12 for the government to repeal Ontario’s wage-control legislation (Bill 124), after a court struck down a similar law in Manitoba.
“This court decision found that the Manitoba wage-control legislation is a ‘draconian measure that inhibited and dramatically reduced’ the collective bargaining and associational rights of unionized public sector workers,” says Patty Coates, Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL) president. “The Manitoba courts have upheld workers’ rights to meaningful and fair collective bargaining.”
The Ontario challenge — brought by a coalition of unions against the legislation — received a boost as a result of Manitoba Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Joan McKelvey finding that the government’s Public Services Sustainability Act (Bill 28) interferes with the right to collective bargaining and violates the freedom of association guaranteed in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, says the OFL.
In March, a coalition of Ontario unions representing about 270,000 employees filed a similar constitutional challenge to Bill 124, arguing that it violates collective bargaining rights enshrined in the freedom of association guarantee of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
PSAC backs fight against religious symbols ban
QUEBEC CITY — The Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) filed an application on June 5 to intervene in the constitutional challenge against Quebec’s religious symbols legislation, Bill 21, which covers Quebec public service workers.
The Laicity Act bars public school teachers and many government civil servants and staff at arm’s length government agencies from wearing religious symbols — such as hijabs and turbans — while at work. The law also requires anyone delivering or receiving a provincial public service to uncover their faces for identification purposes, says PSAC.
If granted, PSAC’s application will allow the union to support a Quebec trade union and civil liberties organizations challenging the legislation before the Quebec Superior Court, says the union.
The act violates the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms as well as the Quebec Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms, and the use of the notwithstanding clause — which the government used in an attempt to shield the legislation from inevitable court challenges — does not comply with requirements set out in the charters, says PSAC.
PSAC represents more than 21,000 members in the university sector and hundreds of researchers covered by the legislation.
The Leap workers join CUPE
TORONTO — Workers at The Leap — an organization operating in Canada and the U.S. focused on climate change, inequality and racism — voted unanimously to join the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) on June 15.
“CUPE has a long history of advocating for positive change in our communities, and these new members work day in and day out to bring about the kind of societal change that will benefit everyone,” says Kristy Davidson, a CUPE representative who is involved in the drive.
The workers contacted CUPE earlier this year, and The Leap’s management and co-founders have supported the workers’ decision at every step of the way.
“I’m looking forward to negotiating a collective agreement to ensure that workers can contribute with passion, pride and power to our work every day at The Leap,” says Katie McKenna, executive director at The Leap.
