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Submission
IntroductionWhen our community group was presented with the opportunity to make a submission to the Canada Labour Code Review, it was with a certain amount of trepidation that we decided to take on such a challenge. The fact is that we struggled to identify the relevance of such a review to our constituents - who by and large are non-unionized, non-federal employees, low-waged (by Canadian standards), and non-traditional workers. Our constituents are the women of Prince Edward Island, who participate in an economy that defines normal work arrangements as seasonal, part-time, and low-waged. PEI is as close to the definition of a new economy as one can get in Canada. Workers are used to the "just in time" status expected in this type of economy. Furthermore, low-wage levels make PEI one of the most competitive markets in North America. In order to attract new business, the provincial government actively markets workers in PEI as having low expectations for fairly compensated, meaningful employment. A persistent system of patronage contributes to worker reliance on government for jobs often resulting in workers taking what they can get as a means to qualify for Employment Insurance. Reliance on government handouts is a deterrent for many workers to question policies and legislation that govern employment situations. Not wanting to bite the hand that feeds you is an obvious self-preservation tactic that Islanders employ. With PEI's economic reality in mind we set about looking at what recommendations we could make about a code that, in its coverage, is irrelevant to the majority of PEI women. We started this process by first asking what role the Canada Labour Code, Part III plays in the sphere of labour standards in Canada. We realized pretty quickly that although none of us in our organization are experts in labour standards, it is obvious the Canada Labour Code is stronger than the Provincial codes and acts in protecting workers and providing benefits. Therefore, the federal code acts as a benchmark for a sort of best practice in labour standards for the country. ProcessWith the idea in mind that the federal code has generally better standards than the provinces, and knowing a review could result in significant improvements to the code, we set about the task of deciding to recommend guiding principles that would contribute to a strong and effective labour standards code that would be upheld as a best practice in Canada and around the world. These guiding principles can serve as a basis for other jurisdictions looking to improve and update employment standards. The scope of the Canada Labour Code cannot possibly protect the most vulnerable workers in Canada because a small percentage of non-traditional workers are employed under the terms outlined by the Code. We believe that a standard needs to be set somewhere and somehow to cover non-traditional work arrangements. The provinces have been extremely discretionary with labour standards and although there is some movement forward in a number of jurisdictions, most provinces have set about tweaking the current legislation rather than revisioning employment standards for a workplace that bears little resemblance to the one for which original legislation was created to respond. Global competition for jobs and women's heavy participation in the workforce are not new realities, but are not addressed sufficiently by current acts and codes. We hope that both provincial and federal governments will take up the cause of the non-traditional worker so that they might enjoy the same protections and benefits of the now "elite" full-time, full-year, permanent employee. So what can we recommend to a federal Labour Code Review ? A complete scraping of current standards which would create a worldwide best practice in labour standards that responds to 21st century economies would be a daunting task indeed. We do not know what that new code would look like, but have some important guiding principles that we would like to put forward. Guiding Principles for Labour Standards DevelopmentPrinciple #1
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Disclaimer: | We would like to thank those who submitted comments and opinions to the Federal Labour Standards Review Commission. Letters, comments and formal briefs received from individuals and organizations across Canada have been posted below. Those submissions that specifically address labour standards issues have been selected. Please note that not all issues raised in the submissions necessarily fall within the mandate of the Review.
Submissions posted reflect the views and opinions of the interested party only and do not necessarily represent the views of the Government of Canada or the Commission. The Commission is not responsible for the content of the submissions and does not guarantee the accuracy or reliability of any information provided. Further submissions will be printed as they become available. |
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