There are 3.6-million public sector workers in Canada and 74.5 per cent of those are unionized. One of the most powerful and vocal unions in the country is the Canadian Union of Public Employees. Their opposition to a new Fraser Institute study is both misinformed and worse, based largely on fiery rhetoric and name-calling.
In every case, the government's anti-union measures are a solution in search of a problem. They are a transparent attempt to damage the financial viability of trade unions and they lay bare the hypocrisy of Conservative parties and governments who, while professing a commitment to streamline useless red tape for Canadian businesses, are ideologically driven to create a choking amount of red tape for trade unions.
The authors of a report by the Canadian Foundation of Labour Rights warn that the enactment of right-to-work legislation will weaken unions and effectively toss Canadian workers under the jackboot of the corporate elite. But the fact of the matter is not as clear-cut as the CFLR and its sources of information let on.