Prime Minister Stephen Harper

Prime Minister Stephen Harper: Yet Prime Minister Stephen Harper now proposes to radically alter the balance of power between Ottawa and public sector workers in what amounts to a stealth blow to the civil service, according to The Star. By rights, such a sweeping nonbudget change should be brought before Parliament as a separate bill. Canadas lawmakers ought to have the chance to carefully study and debate the merits of handing the government such power, and the Tories should have to make a compelling case for its necessity and People have fought and died in Canada for the hard-won right to unionize and strike. More than four million workers, a quarter of the labour force, now belong to a union. And organized labour has been a powerful force for good, campaigning for living wages, safer workplaces and benefits such as child care, flexible work time and sick leave. Non-unionized workers benefit, too, as such standards become commonplace. The Conservatives want the federal government to have the exclusive right to decide who is essential and cannot strike. Currently some 40,000 of the Public Service Alliance of Canadas 187,000 members are essential. The change would undermine bargaining rights, potentially double the number of essential workers and sap their ability to use job action to press demands. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.