Public Service Alliance of Canada BC

OTTAWA — In a landmark ruling, the Supreme Court of Canada on Friday declared for the first time that collective bargaining rights are protected in the 1982 Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

The court was ruling on the B.C. Government’s introduction of a law in 2002 that effectively canceled collective agreements for health-care workers and resulted in mass layoffs. The court gave the B.C. government, which imposed the law to cope with soaring health-care costs, a year to deal with the fallout of the decision before it takes effect.

A majority of judges concluded several sections of the legislation violated section two of the charter, which protects freedom of association.

The Supreme Court of Canada

“We conclude that s. 2(d) of the charter protects the capacity of members of labour unions to engage, in association, in collective bargaining on fundamental workplace issues,” wrote Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin and Justice Louis Lebel on behalf of the majority.

The 6-1 decision declared the protection doesn’t cover all aspects of collective bargaining, does not “ensure a particular outcome” in labour disputes, and doesn’t impact on the right to strike.

“What is protected is simply the right of employees to associate in a process of collective action to achieve workplace goals. If the government substantially interferes with that right, it violates s. 2(d) of the charter.”

Canada’s top union leader praised the ruling.
“This is a great day for workers because this decision means that the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms does protect workers’ rights including the process of collective bargaining,” Canadian Labour Congress president Ken Georgetti, whose umbrella group represents 3.2 million Canadian workers, said in a statement.

“Today’s ruling takes Canada in the right direction. Finally, workers’ freedom of association includes the right to bargain a collective agreement that cannot be ripped apart at the government’s convenience.”

Ontario, Alberta and New Brunswick sided with B.C. in the case, while numerous unions backed the argument that collective bargaining rights were trampled on by B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell’s government.

The Canadian Labour Congress, represented by the law firm Sack Goldblatt Mitchell, was an intervener in the case.
Governments in several provinces, including Ontario’s, have re-opened or gutted contracts with workers, especially during the deficit-fighting battles of the 1990s.

The decision overturns decisions by the B.C. Supreme Court in 2003 and the B.C. Court of Appeal in 2004 that ruled the law was constitutional.

The sweeping law, which took effect three days after first reading in the B.C. legislature, limited workers’ rights in areas such as contracting out, bumping, layoffs, and transfers to and from various health care institutions in B.C.

Past court rulings have concluded that freedom of assembly includes the right for individuals to join a union, but stopped short of declaring that this right actually wades into the realm of collective bargaining.

Justice Marie Deschamps was the lone dissenting judge, though she also concluded one section of the 2002 law violated freedom of association rights.

source: Vancouver Sun, Friday, June 08, 2007