INSTITUTE OF EMPLOYMENT RIGHTS COMPARATIVE NOTES 5
resisting unionbusting techniques: lessons from Quebec LAURA DUBINSKY
about the author Laura Dubinsky is British but works as an organiser for the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees (UNITE) in Canada. This publication, like all publications of the Institute, represents not the collective views of the Institute but only the views of the author. The responsibility of the Institute is limited to approving its publication as worthy of consideration within the labour movement.
resisting unionbusting techniques: lessons from Quebec LAURA DUBINSKY
Institute of Employment Rights Comparative notes ISBN 1 873271 78 6 July 2000 177 Abbeville Road London SW4 9RL 020 7498 6919 fax 020 7498 9080 email ier@gn.apc.org www.ier.org.uk printed by Upstream (TU) 020 7207 1560 ÂŁ5 for trade unions and students ÂŁ10 others
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introduction British workers have just regained a basic democratic right. Since 1980, when statutory trade union recognition procedures were abolished, British employers have been under no legal obligation to bargain collectively with their workers – even if every single one of them is a union member. Under the recognition procedures of the 1999 Employment Relations Act (which will take effect as Schedule A1 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act, 1992), workers will be able to win recognition for a union by majority choice and bargain with an employer over certain terms and conditions of employment, regardless of the employer’s preference. The new laws give workers the power to decide whether they want to have a union recognised at their workplace for the purposes of collective bargaining. British labour relations will be transformed as a result; but how will the statutory recognition procedures of the Employment Relations Act function in practice? How exactly will the new legislation shape workers’ ability to organise, the resources that unions must devote to organising, and, particularly, the strategies that employers use to avoid unionisation? This booklet attempts to answer those questions by examining the workings of a remarkably similar system of trade union recognition in Quebec, Canada. This booklet argues that while the new statutory recognition procedures represent important opportunities for British workers and unions, the procedures also contain weaknesses which can be exploited by hostile employers. British unions will need to be creative, willing to deploy their resources, and able to anticipate employer tactics, in order to organise successfully under the new legislation.
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Resisting Union-Busting Techniques: lessons from Quebec is the fifth in a series of Comparative notes published by the Institute of Employment Rights. The Institute was launched in February 1989. As a labour law “think tank” , supported by the trade union movement its purpose is to provide research, ideas and detailed argument. This series of comparative notes was introduced in an attempt to offer an insight into how labour law is developing throughout the world and to provide UK unions with positive examples of how the law can operate to the benefit of workers and their unions. The Institute does not assume that legal measures can offer ultimate solutions for political, economic and social problems. However, it recognises that law has a part to play in influencing the employment relationship, both individually and collectively. Institute of Employment Rights 177 Abbeville Road, London SW4 9RL
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