Ugh I just got back from a five day collective bargaining class and I'm dead beat. We have a similar clause in Alberta except that it is under the provisions for a grievance procedure.
There may be some possibilites of signing contracts with employers outside the Labour Relations legislation, it also might be worth checking out how stiff the penalties are for violating the act. They aren't nearly as bad in Saskatchewan last I checked as they are in Alberta.
No strike in Ontario LRA
EW: A FW here has told me that apparently that section of code doesn't apply unless it's referenced in the contract, or something. I didn't quite understand. I'll post again when I do.
ncwob: that is my understanding of the situation.
If there was a competition between UK and Canada for worse labour law I dunno who would win (lose?) but I suspect the UK may be the least pleasant.
I wouldn't actually say we have it worse than a lot of the southern states though. I mean after all we don't have any 'right to work' legislation. Basically the unions gave up a lot to make sure that their Rand formula (dues checkoff from the paycheck) was held onto tightly. Really all the crummy stuff is around the right to strike; if you have a union and you want to solve everything through grievances arbitration and the courts the system is really not all that bad.The law isn't too hard on unions, they just can't actually engage in any sort of class struggle and stay within the law.
This is a great little discussion, but for the benefit of IWW members that aren't on lib-com could we move / mirror it to the Canadian Labour Law thread on the iww.org forum?
I was just thinking the same thing, can we just cut and paste it over? Also Stripey I still am trying to get a look at that projectionists contract that never got off the ground. We should post it in the Canadian labour law thread we have going over there to talk about.
OK so I've had this explained to me.
Apparently it is the law *but* you can do actions that aren't strikes like slow downs and info pickets. You just can't stop business.
Also the FW who explained it to me said one time a strike was carried out by some workers in his shop regarding working hours. The workers were fired but the union argued that the employer was not carrying out the conditions of the contract (which was why they walked off the job) so the workers eventually got their jobs back, I think after months and months.
So the fact remains that all contracts in Ontario are no strike contracts.
If there was a clause in the IWW Constitution banning no strike clauses would Ontario wobblies be forbidden from entering into any certification contract?
(Cannuk wobs: I have also moved my part of this thread to the iww.ca forums at http://www.iww.ca/node/8
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Quote:
If there was a clause in the IWW Constitution banning no strike clauses would Ontario wobblies be forbidden from entering into any certification contract?
Probably.
It's been intimated to me by others that you can sign agreement that isn't a 'collective bargaining' agreement with employers and is still a legal binding contract. The only difference is it would be enforced through the courts, not sure about this though. If you think about it how many times have you worked a job where they make you sign a personal agreement around wages (you can write one to waive your right to overtime in Alberta), I signed one agreeing to not calling in sick too much at Canada Post. Again we really need some quality time with some Canadian lawyers that understand where we are coming from.
iww.ca isn't just going to be forums, but lots of other collaboration stuff not available at iww.org. I'm not really expecting many folks to use it on the basis of the forums alone. But I think the collection of tools available in one spot will each enhance the other. The problem with sites like that is that you need to get folks in the habit of using them. So like one person gets on it for the forums and then finds some shared documents that inspire action. Another wants to find other people working in iu 640 across the country and starts browsing the forums. Does that make sense?
And that will help us communicate and share better across the country, make us better and stronger organisers.
Does that make sense?
I was just prowling around the Ontario Labour Relations Act and I found this:
So in the event of the IWW Constitution banning no strike clauses would it be then be disallowed for Ontario wobblies to get contracts?
Is it possible (likely) to get clauses in contracts which specifically allow strikes?
I dunno if it's Ontario specific or not, but I am also a bit unclear about whether it's possible to have certification without a contract. Anyone have any ideas?
(You can access the OLRA online but you will have to click "Labour relations act" under "Frequently accessed" on the right hand side of the page. It doesn't seem to allow direct linking.)