Heather McPherson wants to outlaw the targets of her private member’s bill. She refers to them politely  as “employer influenced unions.” Many workers know these repellent bodies as “yellow dog unions,” ugly creatures that pretend to be unions but put most of their energy into helping employers, often against the interests of the actual workers they purportedly represent. Think Colonel  Sanders claiming he can negotiate on behalf of the chickens or Dracula acting as a blood donor broker.

Unsurprisingly, the head of one of the unions that McPherson singled out for criticism, the Christian Labour Association of Canada, (CLAC) founded in 1952, objected to the proposed legislation. Wayne Prins, CLAC’s Executive Director, said “Nothing in this bill advances the interests of everyday working Canadians, and nothing in it provides protections that don’t already exist in every labour code in Canada……McPherson’s comments are a desperate attempt to garner favour with rival unions to CLAC, and they expose a remarkable lack of understanding of real labour relations in Canada.”

Speaking of lack of understanding of Canadian labour relations, it is worth noting that CLAC’s understanding of labour relations led them within living memory to form a lobbying alliance in BC with  the Progressive Contractors Association, the Independent Contractors and Business Associations, the BC Chamber of Commerce, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, the Canada West Construction Union (CWCU).   With the exception of the CWCU, which appears to be closely aligned with CLAC, these are all employer side organizations. I guess the folks at CLAC haven’t got the memo yet about being judged by the company you keep. 

On June 4, McPherson’s bill had its first hour of debate, with a........

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