2012.11.18
Members' dues would fund Harper's
back-door attack on labour organizations
Odious bill close to becoming law; anti-union groups
press their case behind closed doors with high-ranking Conservatives
An unprecedented attack on trade unions by the Harper government would see members' dues squandered on feeding the maw of a massive public database that would invade the privacy of millions of Canadians and financially cripple some labour organizations.
C-377, a private member's bill sponsored by Conservative MP Russ Hiebert, has already passed second reading and could well become law before the end of the year. It would amend the Income Tax Act to introduce onerous reporting requirements for unions, their pension or trust funds, medical plans and training trusts.
"This is an intrusive, unfair, unnecessary and ideologically motivated piece of rubbish that will cost taxpayers millions of dollars a year to administer — money that could be spent on health, environment, reducing poverty — and yield no benefit to anyone," says an angry CWA Canada Director Martin O'Hanlon. "Plus, it comes while the Conservatives are still running multi-billion-dollar deficits. It's outrageous. Whatever happened to fiscal conservatism?
"And let's not forget that the sponsor of this bill, Russ Hiebert, is an ideological social conservative who borrowed the legislation from the Republicans in the U.S. This is the same Hiebert who spent $637,000 in taxpayer money in one year flying his family back and forth to Ottawa from Alberta. This from a guy who campaigned on fighting government waste. The hypocrisy is staggering."
Legislation would apply to all national, international and regional unions, components and locals, along with federations of labour and labour councils — approximately 25,000 organizations.
Required disclosures include:
Transactions over $5,000 for supplies and services: Name, address of payer/payee; purpose and detailed description of transaction and specific amount paid. Competitors can access details of contracts for every business or professional who does work for a union, providing the opportunity to undermine them.
All disbursements to employees: Everyone from receptionist to president has names, salaries and benefits published. (Prime Minister's Office will not disclose same, citing invasion of privacy.)
Specific details of any invoice from a legal firm over $5,000. This is a gross violation of solicitor-client privilege. No one should be required to disclose to the government and the public the details of their relationship with their legal counsel.
Unions that operate trusteed pension and health plans would have to disclose details of all pension and health related expenditures over $5,000, which violates individual privacy rights.
Opposition MPs have raised their concerns in the House, noting that "notorious union-buster" Terrance Oakey, of Merit Shop Contractors, and other well-funded anti-union groups have held dozens of closed-door meetings with high-ranking Conservatives. Among those lobbying for this bill are the Canadian Federation of Independent Business and the Fraser Institute.
"Why are Conservatives letting the special interests of one well-connected Conservative lobbyist upset the labour peace in this country?" asked Winnipeg NDP MP Pat Martin. "If they do want to declare war on labour, why do they not do it through the front door instead of skulking around with a private member's bill like a bunch of cowards?"
Carmel Smyth, national president of the Canadian Media Guild (CMG), says the new bureacracy that would be created would "cost as much as the gun registry to oversee and serves no purpose other than bullying unions."
The Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) calls C-377 the "most costly and discriminatory bill faced by the labour movement" in this country.
Every labour organization and all unions, including locals, branches, councils, lodges, etc., would have to disclose detailed financial information, salaries, supplier contracts, loans, accounts receivables, investments, spending on organizing, collective bargaining, education, training, lobbying and all political activities. The information would be made public on a Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) website.
"How would you feel if your salary, medical expenses or disability payments were posted on a government website along with your name, address and a description of the reason for the payment?" writes University of Toronto law student Josh Mandryk in an op-ed piece published in the Toronto Star last month.
"From slashing funding to women's groups, to suppressing dissenters in the federal bureaucracy, to attacking environmental charities as 'foreign-funded radicals', this government has shown an unprecedented willingness to come down on groups who either actively or passively oppose its agenda.
"And now they've come for the trade unionists."
Writing in the Huffington Post, Larry Rousseau of the Public Service Alliance of Canada, explains what is behind C-377:
"While cutting public funds to organizations that refuse to toe the Conservative party line ... can be accomplished by ministerial decree, defunding unions, which operate on membership dues, is far less evident for the Harper government.
"Effectively, the Conservatives are using bill C-377 to burden labour organizations with endless and costly paperwork under the guise of transparency and accountability, in the hope that this will distract unions from fighting the absurdly long yet ever-growing list of excesses and abuses perpetrated by the Harper regime."
O'Hanlon notes that it's not only trade unions and opposition politicians who are fighting this legislation.
"Even the Canadian Bar Association says this is a flawed bill and, given a choice between the brain power at the CBA and Hiebert's narrow ideology, I think the answer is obvious."
"If the bill were anything more than an attack on unions," writes Mandryk in the Star, "one must wonder why professional associations are exempt from its requirements. Like unions, professional associations collect dues from their members and advocate on their behalf. Professional association dues are also tax deductible for their members, the same as union dues. If the bill’s disclosure requirements were necessary, which they are not, one would think they would be even more important for professional associations since, unlike unions, their leaders aren’t democratically elected and their members can’t decertify them as their representative."
O'Hanlon concurs: "Unions are among the most transparent and open organizations in Canada. All our contracts are public and any member can see our financial statements and audit. And remember — unions don't get a penny in taxpayer money; members get a tax credit on dues."
Smyth adds that all unions "already share financial information with members (CMG has monthly meetings and our budget is on our website) so we are already more transparent than many business or non-profit organizations.
"Plus no one else is being forced to follow these gruelling rules, not the associations representing doctors, lawyers, dentists or any other profession. Why is it suddenly imperative for unions to report every single penny, every charitable donation, every hour volunteering and any HINT of political involvement? Can the Conservatives be so blindly partisan they are introducing this bully-bill to stop union members from volunteering for political parties other than their own?"
"What other purpose could there be," asks Smyth, "in imposing this expensive and time-consuming reporting of mind-crushing detail" solely on unions? "Instead of spending our time trying to improve wages and working conditions, wrestling with the serious economic and technological challenges facing today’s newspapers, TV, radio and digital media, and fighting for a valued and democratic press, we will be tied up with red tape."
For interviews or more information, contact Martin O'Hanlon (email / 613-867-5090).