Federal labour standards reviewed for the first time in 40 years
The federal labour standards should be updated to provide stronger protection for non-standard workers and enshrine flexibility around hours of work for both employers and workers, according to the first major review in 40 years.
The federal labour standards, known as part three of the Canada Labour Code, covers about 840,000 workers in federally regulated organizations, including banks, telecommunication companies, broadcasters, airlines, transportation firms and Aboriginal governments. Major changes have not been made to the standards since 1965.
The review touched on a vast array of issues, including coverage for self-employed workers in industries such as trucking, recourse for workers who have wage and benefits owing to them and improvements to the government’s enforcement regimes.
One of the biggest challenges review commissioner Harry Arthurs faced during the two-year project was dealing with the dearth of information.
“No one knew to how many people minimum wage applied. The extent of non-compliance. The way the time of inspectors was used. Important things like that, there was just no information on,” said Arthurs, former dean of Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto and former president of York University. He was appointed commissioner of this review in 2004.
The second challenge was “keeping straight in my mind what jobs the labour standards were to do.”
He settled on three principles: to ensure no one works under conditions that are indecent, to enhance the competitiveness of businesses and to strike the balance between business flexibility and security of income for workers — or “flexicurity,” to use a term imported from Europe.
It’s in the spirit of striking this balance that Arthurs made his recommendations on the control of time issue. While the eight-hour workday, 40-hour work week and 48-hours-a-week maximum should be maintained, he recommended that each sector be allowed to come up with its own rules on work hours.
Similarly, employers that need to adjust the rules should seek approval first from workers rather than from government officials, as is the case now. The rules around maternity, parental and compassionate care leaves should be made more flexible and new unpaid leaves should be established for family responsibility, medical issues, bereavement education and court attendance.
The recommendations include several measures to protect the most vulnerable workers, because “that is the traditional mission of labour standards,” said Arthurs. One of them is for part-time workers to earn the same wage as full-time workers, a measure intended to prevent employers from using part-timers to undercut the labour standards of full-time workers. Along the same line, temporary and contract workers should be considered for permanent placements after a year of service, he said.
Arthurs also recommended that part-time and temporary workers be allowed to qualify for statutory benefits such as vacation and protection from unjust dismissal. They’re also often ineligible for non-statutory benefits such as drug and dental coverage, disability insurance and pensions, but Arthurs acknowledged the complexities in offering these benefits to non-standard workers may be too great for small or medium-sized employers to bear.
Instead, the government should investigate ways of setting up a “benefits bank,” he wrote. These could be modelled after the Canada Pension Plan or the employment insurance system, in which workers can make premium contributions regardless of where they work or for how many hours.
The labour standards should reintroduce a federal minimum wage, which was abolished in 1996 when the federal government brought in the policy of adopting whatever minimum wage was in effect in the province worked.
Although only a small portion of workers in federally regulated sectors earn minimum wage — 577 out of 840,000, he said — there has to be a benchmark. It shouldn’t be a number, as any number will inevitably come up for debate every few years, but a formula that allows for automatic adjustments. In the spirit of ensuring no one who works full time year round should live in poverty, Arthurs suggested the benchmark be tied to the low-income cut-off index.
Corinne Pohlmann, director of national affairs at the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, said she was heartened to see the theme of flexibility come up in the review. The recommendation on minimum wage is a concern, and the federation plans to study the recommendations and consult with members.
“We plan on certainly being much more vocal on this front because some of these suggestions are things we see as damaging to our membership so we’ll make sure our voice is heard,” said Pohlmann.
At the Canadian Labour Congress, the recommendations were welcomed.
“We need standards that reflect the reality of the majority of today’s workers who have employment relationships that are part-time, temporary, contract, with variable schedules or ‘non-standard’ in many other ways. The Arthurs’ report recommendations would allow these workers to better balance employment with family, learning, and other responsibilities,” said secretary-treasurer Hassan Yussuff in a statement.
The federal labour standards, known as part three of the Canada Labour Code, covers about 840,000 workers in federally regulated organizations, including banks, telecommunication companies, broadcasters, airlines, transportation firms and Aboriginal governments. Major changes have not been made to the standards since 1965.
The review touched on a vast array of issues, including coverage for self-employed workers in industries such as trucking, recourse for workers who have wage and benefits owing to them and improvements to the government’s enforcement regimes.
One of the biggest challenges review commissioner Harry Arthurs faced during the two-year project was dealing with the dearth of information.
“No one knew to how many people minimum wage applied. The extent of non-compliance. The way the time of inspectors was used. Important things like that, there was just no information on,” said Arthurs, former dean of Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto and former president of York University. He was appointed commissioner of this review in 2004.
The second challenge was “keeping straight in my mind what jobs the labour standards were to do.”
He settled on three principles: to ensure no one works under conditions that are indecent, to enhance the competitiveness of businesses and to strike the balance between business flexibility and security of income for workers — or “flexicurity,” to use a term imported from Europe.
It’s in the spirit of striking this balance that Arthurs made his recommendations on the control of time issue. While the eight-hour workday, 40-hour work week and 48-hours-a-week maximum should be maintained, he recommended that each sector be allowed to come up with its own rules on work hours.
Similarly, employers that need to adjust the rules should seek approval first from workers rather than from government officials, as is the case now. The rules around maternity, parental and compassionate care leaves should be made more flexible and new unpaid leaves should be established for family responsibility, medical issues, bereavement education and court attendance.
The recommendations include several measures to protect the most vulnerable workers, because “that is the traditional mission of labour standards,” said Arthurs. One of them is for part-time workers to earn the same wage as full-time workers, a measure intended to prevent employers from using part-timers to undercut the labour standards of full-time workers. Along the same line, temporary and contract workers should be considered for permanent placements after a year of service, he said.
Arthurs also recommended that part-time and temporary workers be allowed to qualify for statutory benefits such as vacation and protection from unjust dismissal. They’re also often ineligible for non-statutory benefits such as drug and dental coverage, disability insurance and pensions, but Arthurs acknowledged the complexities in offering these benefits to non-standard workers may be too great for small or medium-sized employers to bear.
Instead, the government should investigate ways of setting up a “benefits bank,” he wrote. These could be modelled after the Canada Pension Plan or the employment insurance system, in which workers can make premium contributions regardless of where they work or for how many hours.
The labour standards should reintroduce a federal minimum wage, which was abolished in 1996 when the federal government brought in the policy of adopting whatever minimum wage was in effect in the province worked.
Although only a small portion of workers in federally regulated sectors earn minimum wage — 577 out of 840,000, he said — there has to be a benchmark. It shouldn’t be a number, as any number will inevitably come up for debate every few years, but a formula that allows for automatic adjustments. In the spirit of ensuring no one who works full time year round should live in poverty, Arthurs suggested the benchmark be tied to the low-income cut-off index.
Corinne Pohlmann, director of national affairs at the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, said she was heartened to see the theme of flexibility come up in the review. The recommendation on minimum wage is a concern, and the federation plans to study the recommendations and consult with members.
“We plan on certainly being much more vocal on this front because some of these suggestions are things we see as damaging to our membership so we’ll make sure our voice is heard,” said Pohlmann.
At the Canadian Labour Congress, the recommendations were welcomed.
“We need standards that reflect the reality of the majority of today’s workers who have employment relationships that are part-time, temporary, contract, with variable schedules or ‘non-standard’ in many other ways. The Arthurs’ report recommendations would allow these workers to better balance employment with family, learning, and other responsibilities,” said secretary-treasurer Hassan Yussuff in a statement.
