An important piece of legislation was passed by the House of Commons this week. Bill C-377, sponsored by British Columbia MP Russ Hiebert, will require unions and other labour organizations in Canada to file annual public reports detailing their financial statements, salaries paid to top employees, the amount of time spent on lobbying and political activities, and certain information about expenditures over $5,000.
If this legislation is passed by the Senate, it will shine a light on the over $4 billion that unions collect annually in forced contributions from workers and bring Canada's union financial disclosure laws in-line with those in Australia, New Zealand, Germany, France, Ireland, the UK and the US.
Canada's union leaders spent vast amounts of money trying to defeat this bill -- a massive lobby that is expected to continue as the Senate reviews the legislation in the coming months. This despite the fact that Bill C-377 was amended by the House of Commons to address most of the concerns that union leaders raised in their opposition to it. The interventions from union leaders that resulted in amendments have made it a better piece of legislation, and contrary to union rhetoric, the reporting requirements are not onerous and will be easy to implement with even the most basic accounting practices.
Yet union leaders still oppose it, suggesting the real motivation for their campaign against the bill is a refusal to concede that they need to operate in a transparent manner -- despite their privileged position.
The Members of Parliament who voted in favour of Bill C-377 should be applauded for their support of transparency and accountability. They recognize that unions cannot simultaneously benefit from the public trust through forced contributions from workers that are protected in law and generous tax breaks worth over $400 million annually, while also arguing that they have no public disclosure obligations.
While union leaders applied intense pressure on MPs who supported the legislation to change their position, those MPs recognized something that perhaps labour leaders did not: 86 per cent of unionized workers support greater financial transparency for unions.
Therein lies the fundamental disconnect with union leaders and Bill C-377. The disclosure provisions of the legislation should empower union leaders since their members will be able to easily see how their dues are spent. In fact, the whole union model of forced contributions and generous tax breaks will be enhanced when the general public is able to see how unions spend their money. If unions want to continue to benefit from the public trust, they need to earn it by operating in a transparent manner.
Regardless, union leaders will undoubtedly spend even more money to now try to defeat the bill in the Senate. All of which raises the question: why are union leaders so afraid of transparency?
Follow Terrance Oakey on Twitter: www.twitter.com/terrance_oakey
"The disclosure provisions of the legislation should empower union leaders since their members will be able to easily see how their dues are spent."
Merit Canada employer-members pay good money for the products and services associated with Merit Canada membership.
But Merit Canada employer-members aren't told how all their dues are spent or what salaries are paid at Merit Canada.
The author says:
"If unions want to continue to benefit from the public trust, they need to earn it by operating in a transparent manner."
The author, and Merit Canada, should look in the mirror, and think about that statement.
Still, while Hiebert professes to be for transparency, and not against unions, his allies are hardly friends of organized labour. Merit Canada, the national lobby group for the “open shop,” or non-unionized, construction industry, has thrown its support behind Bill C-377. Merit has mounted a campaign under the slogan, “Why is big labour afraid of the light?” According to a publicly disclosed report filed with the federal lobbyists’ registry, Merit’s representatives met on Oct. 23 with Hiebert and Nigel Wright, Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s powerful chief of staff. Also attending that top-level lobbying session were Alykhan Velshi, Harper’s director of planning, and two senior officials from Finance Minister Jim Flaherty’s department.
So basically this guy has no thoughts of his own, he's just speaking of behalf of el president harper
Its all about full disclosure no?
All Union positions are elected, if you feel passionate enough about your Union to complain incessantly, feel free to run for a position. I enjoyed a quick rise through the ranks as I was dedicated and took advantage of all of the educational programs offered to me. I still had to be elected by my peers at each rung on the ladder. I was honest with my opinions, and did not always tow the line, and was never chastised. If anything, it helped.
I have personally met a number of Canada's top labour leaders, and am proud that Canada has such dedicated people covering our backs. If you meet Buzz or Ken or Bob White and walk away with the word "elite" having crossed your mind, I'm worried about you.
In case your wondering, the biggest cheque our local ever wrote was to cover the full cost of a skate-park in our small community. What a bunch of rogues!
Disingenuous, wrong, immoral, unreasonable, anti-democratic, as un-Canadian as one could imagine. The very antithesis of a "worthwhile Canadian initiative."
no one is taking your opinion piece seriously.
I don't know what's a matter with these democracy-lovers.
Dictatorship is good! Organised labour bad for business.
Shall I organise another circus to distract them?
Also, who are you saying that unions should be transparent to? On one hand you say the public and on the other you say the union members. At every union meeting I attend the financial report is read with an invitation to go over the books. Any member of my union can ask to look at the financial books at any time. I consider that to be transparent.
Please state what tax benefits the unions are receiving, not the members, the unions.
Some research would have been nice instead of vague, incomplete, and incorrect statements.