Allen Ponak Best Student Paper Competition Finalist
Canadian Industrial Relations Association
Corinna Traill
ABSTRACT
On December 10, 1992, a set of amendments to the construction provisions in the Ontario Labour Relations Act was introduced “to promote greater democracy and local control in the relationship between internationally based parent construction unions and their Ontario locals” by giving Ontario-based construction locals greater control over their own affairs. The main elements of the “Bill 80” amendments would extend to Ontario construction locals shared bargaining rights in the non Industrial, Commercial and Institutional sectors, and would provide to the locals greater control over the resolution of jurisdictional disputes within the trades, protection from interference or reprisals from the international parent unions and proportionate control over benefit plans.
Has the New Democratic Party government’s legislative initiative achieved its stated goal of enhancing the principles of autonomy and internal union democracy by enacting a law that brings a sense of balance and fairness to the relationship between local unions, their members and international parents”? Or have subsequent emendations rendered the provisions “toothless” and too susceptible to an interpretation by the Ontario Labour Relations Board which is unfavourable to local unions? These and related inquiries regarding the Bill 80 amendments will be conducted with regard to the history and influence of American labour law in Part I; the distinctly “cautious” character of labour law reform in Canada in Part II, Bill 80 itself and the legislative debate surrounding the proposed amendments to the OLRA in Part III and several significant Ontario Labour Relations Board decisions which help delineate the scope of Bill 80 in Part IV. I will conclude with a brief evaluation of the overall effectiveness of amendments to the OLRA in response to my initial inquiries within the described analytical framework.
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olels
Rebecca Zaretsky
Corinna Traill
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