Quebec Workers Denied Democratic Rights

As the unionization of Quebec's Wal-Marts shows, the province's government would rather placate unions than do what's right for workers.

With another chapter in the United Food and Commercial Workers’ Union's (UFCW) long-running efforts to unionize Wal-Mart stores set to end, the Quebec government has again demonstrated that it is more interested in placating unions than doing what’s right for workers.

Back in 2005, the UFCW was “certified” as the exclusive bargaining agent for workers at Wal-Mart in Saint-Hyacinthe. After a series of legal proceedings, Alain Corriveau, the arbitrator appointed by the Quebec Ministry of Labour, is now preparing to impose a collective agreement on Wal-Mart and its workers in Saint-Hyacinthe.

The problem is that workers were unionized without the opportunity to show their preferences through a secret ballot vote. In Quebec, a union can automatically be certified if the majority of workers (50 per cent plus one) sign union cards, a process referred to as card-check. And so it happened at the Saint-Hyacinthe Wal-Mart.

The card-check system of union certification has a number of serious problems. First, card-checks are inherently confrontational. Union organizers and workers wanting union representation are able to go to the homes of other workers or approach them in parking lots and other public places in order to persuade them to sign union membership cards. If a worker decides not to sign a membership card, there is nothing stopping union organizers from repeatedly approaching them.

The confrontational nature of the card-check system can also create hostilities between workers in a company. Given that individual decisions are known by all workers, card-checks often create conflict between co-workers who must ultimately work together after a union certification drive commences.

The card-check system also restricts the flow of information. Under card-checks many employers only become aware of unionization campaigns once they are virtually complete and as a result, the union is often the only source of information for workers. This violates a core tenet of making informed decisions, which is that workers have access to a full range of information regarding the effects of their decision.

Supporters of card-checks argue the ability of employers to communicate with workers during unionization campaigns leaves workers subject to intimidation. The reality, however, is that workers are protected under the Labour Relations Code against what is commonly referred to as unfair labour practices including threats of dismissal, wage decreases, or the alteration of any conditions of employment.

Not surprisingly, when workers are given the right to vote for union representation using a secret ballot, they choose collective representation much less often.

Professor Christopher Riddell of Queen’s University studied the effects of different certification mechanisms, looking at the experience of British Columbia between 1978 and 1998. In 1984 the province implemented secret-ballot voting and then reverted to a card-check system in 1993. Professor Riddell found that unionization success rates fell by 19 per cent after mandatory secret ballot voting was introduced and then increased by nearly the same amount when it was eliminated.

These results have been corroborated by a number of other academic studies. The research consistently shows that when workers are afforded the opportunity to make private, anonymous decisions through secret ballot voting, the result is lower levels of union certification.

Unfortunately, Quebec is one of only four North American jurisdictions (10 Canadian provinces and 50 U.S. states) that allow union certification without a formal, secret ballot vote.

Without a secret ballot vote, workers cannot choose anonymously or democratically. Premier Charest, it’s time to stand up for Quebec workers and give them their democratic rights.