Canadian Labour Relations Case Study

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Statement of the problem
An issue for Canadian labour relations, specifically unions, is the government’s intention to move away from the Rand formula of union dues collection. In 1946, Justice Ivan Rand introduced a dues scheme that ended the 1945 Ford motors strike in Windsor, Ontario. The “Rand Formula” or better known as automatic check off made it binding, in a unionized workplace, that all employees regardless of union affiliation pay union dues. This essentially made the union accountable to all workers in the bargaining unit and equal representation must be provided to all. Justice Rand stated in his decision,
I consider it entirely equitable then that all employees should be required to shoulder their portion of the burden of expense …show more content…

Legislation that deals with labour issues is left to the provinces to determine while federal employees fall under the Canada Labour Code,
How employers and workers represented by unions, in both the private and public sector, agree on the terms of work is determined by provincial and federal laws and regulations. This encompasses rules that govern how unions operate, work stoppages, and the process of collective bargaining.(Dachis & Hebdon, 2010,p. 1)
Union representation and collective bargaining has a long history of benefiting not only union members directly but the general workforce regardless of union affiliation. Employers adopt union pay rates and similar benefits to discourage their workers from seeking official representation as seen by paid brakes being the standard throughout “The positive, equalizing impacts of unions on wages spill over to lower-paid, non-union workers in communities with high levels of unionization” (Broadbent). The C.D. Howe Institute describes “Strikes, lockouts, and other outcomes of employer-employee negotiations, however, affect not just unionized employees – about one in three working Canadians- but reverberate well beyond the negotiating parties”(Dachis and Hebdon, 2010, p.

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