Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 1994, published 81st ILC session (1994)

Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87) - Canada (Ratification: 1972)

The Committee takes note of the responses of the federal and provincial governments to the Committee's previous direct request.

Article 2 of the Convention: The right of workers and employers to establish and join organizations of their own choosing without previous authorization.

Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, Ontario

While acknowledging the information supplied by the governments in reference to its previous comments, the Committee once again requests the governments of these provinces to delete from their legislation the names of individual unions.

Article 3: The right of workers' organizations to formulate their programmes without interference from the public authorities.

British Columbia

The Committee takes note of the Government's provision of Bill No. 31 - the Educational Programmes Continuation Act, which was brought into force on 30 May 1993 in response to a number of labour-management disputes in the educational services in the province. The Committee notes that Act No. 31 provides for special mediation support to parties in provincial school districts who have been unable to negotiate a renewal collective agreement and allows the Minister of Labour to refer the dispute to binding settlement if the parties are unable to reach a negotiated agreement. The Committee further notes that Act No. 31 is scheduled to expire on 31 March 1994 at the latest.

The Committee trusts that the right to strike and to bargain collectively in the educational services will be restored upon the expiration of this legislation. The Committee would request the Government in future to refrain from having recourse to legislative intervention in industrial disputes in non-essential services, particularly where the extent and duration of the strikes have not resulted in an acute national crisis.

Federal Government

In its previous direct request, the Committee noted that the British Columbia Grain Handling Operations Act and the Thunder Bay Grain Handling Operations Act terminated legal strikes by grain handlers, and that the Postal Services Continuation Act, 1991, terminated a legal strike by postal workers.

The Committee notes with interest from the Government's report that in the case of both grain handling relationships, free collective bargaining, including the legal right to strike, has been fully restored and the parties are presently in direct negotiations to renew their collective agreements. The Committee further notes with interest that in the case of the Canada Post Corporation and the Canadian Union of Postal Workers, there is a collective agreement currently in effect which is valid till 31 January 1995. Following the expiry of the agreement the parties will be free to enter into negotiations to renew their contract.