Much has been made of what the BC NDP minority government plans to give British Columbians if it manages to retain the reins of power for any length of time, but not enough has been discussed about what it plans to take away from the province’s citizens.
If the majority NDP end of the “GreeNDP” coalition gets its way, one of the key take-aways that should concern B.C. businesses is the party’s commitment to eliminating secret ballot voting in union certification drives.
Replacing it with a card-check system would make it easier to unionize employee groups because a union would then have to show only that a majority of workers have signed union cards to give it the power to negotiate the terms of employment for all employees. That would allow it to skip the more time-consuming and oft unpredictable bother of having all members of an employee group vote on whether to join a union.
The Justin Trudeau Liberals and provincial governments in Alberta and Ontario are also keen on eliminating the secret ballot voting system in union certification drives.
In case fans of big labour have forgotten, in their zeal to unionize workplaces, the principle of a secret ballot is a fundamental tenet of democracy. It helps ensure that a voting process in any venue, be it workplace or other, is free from coercion or manipulation from any side. For union certification drives that includes employers, employees and union organizers.
Establishing a union in a workplace has significant consequences for a company and its employees. It might be the right decision; it might not. It therefore requires the sober second thoughts and objective consideration that most people invest in casting a ballot anonymously.
For the NDP, which traditionally draws support from labour, making it easier for unions to expand their membership makes good economic and political sense.
For other groups along the political and economic spectrum, it makes far less sense.
