Employers in B.C. are nervously awaiting the results of the B.C. government乌鸦传媒檚 overhaul of the Labour Code, to see if the traditional swings of provincial politics repeat themselves.
Since the minority NDP government took office a year ago, they have seen the shift to a new payroll tax to pay for health care, increases to the minimum wage totalling 34 per cent over four years, phasing out the alcohol server wage, increasing corporate taxes and imposing the first hike in the carbon tax on fuels in seven years.
Now the government is awaiting a report from its appointed committee on whether to do away with secret ballot votes for union certification, prevent employers from communicating with employees during a certification, and generally reverse changes made in 2003 after the B.C. Liberals took office.
Labour Minister Harry Bains tells me the report was delayed for a month at the committee乌鸦传媒檚 request, and should be out shortly. He wouldn乌鸦传媒檛 comment directly on the long-standing demand by the B.C. Federation of Labour and others to do away with secret ballot certification votes, except to say employees should be free to choose 乌鸦传媒渨ithout interference from anybody.乌鸦传媒�
We乌鸦传媒檝e seen how that乌鸦传媒檚 going to work in public construction, where every employee will be forced to join one of 19 selected international unions for the duration of the job. One obstacle faced by Bains is that B.C. Green Party leader Andrew Weaver has indicated he won乌鸦传媒檛 support scrapping certification votes.
B.C. Liberal labour critic John Martin isn乌鸦传媒檛 reassured.
乌鸦传媒淟ast year, Andrew Weaver kind of drew a line in the sand on that one, and we did see the NDP back down,乌鸦传媒� Martin told me. 乌鸦传媒淏ut since then, there乌鸦传媒檚 been a realization that there乌鸦传媒檚 a lot of huff and bluff from Andrew on that. So I expect them to bring that one in.乌鸦传媒�
In his mandate letter appointing Bains to cabinet, Premier John Horgan also directed him to update the Employment Standards Act, unchanged since the last years of the previous NDP government. One of the demands made by the union-backed B.C. Employment Standards Coalition is to end the 乌鸦传媒渟econd-class status乌鸦传媒� of farmworkers, setting a 乌鸦传媒渕inimum-wage floor乌鸦传媒� that would be imposed on the traditional piece-work rates.
Bains came to politics in 2005 from the United Steelworkers, which you may recall is the U.S.-based union that directly paid top NDP campaign staff for last year乌鸦传媒� nail-biter election. That乌鸦传媒檚 not going to happen again, since the NDP and Greens got together to replace union and corporate donations with contributions from taxpayers. It乌鸦传媒檚 kind of like union dues you are being charged by political parties, even if you didn乌鸦传媒檛 join or didn乌鸦传媒檛 vote in the last provincial election.
Bains assures me he is sensitive to the needs of business, and the cumulative effects of various policies such as the payroll tax and minimum wage.
乌鸦传媒淲hen [business and labour] work together they create wealth,乌鸦传媒� Bains said. 乌鸦传媒淭hat乌鸦传媒檚 the kind of business environment that I would like to facilitate, working with them both.
乌鸦传媒淚 think we are in a good position to do that. We have a strong economy, we have a lot more jobs than there are people.乌鸦传媒�
As was confirmed last week by audited financial statements, B.C. managed a big surplus for the fiscal year that ended in March, despite $3 billion in additional spending by the new government.
One thing for sure about good economic times, they don乌鸦传媒檛 last forever.
Tom Fletcher is B.C. legislature reporter and columnist for Black Press. Email: tfletcher@blackpress.ca
tfletcher@blackpress.ca
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