Wednesday 14 May 2008

Unions take Government of Saskatchewan to court over LRB

The Saskatchewan Federation of Labour (SFL), the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), and the Retail Wholesale Department Store Union (RWDSU) announced today that they will be taking the Saskatchewan Party Government go court over the government's firing of the Chair and Vice-Chairs of the Saskatchewan Labour Relations Board earlier this year.
"Unions take Government of Saskatchewan to court over LRB

Today the Saskatchewan Federation of Labour (SFL), the Saskatchewan Joint Board Retail, Wholesale, Department Store Union (SJBRWDSU), and the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) filed a Notice of Motion at the Court of Queen's Bench to quash a recent Order-in-Council of the provincial government. The Notice cites the Attorney-General and the Minister of Advanced Education, Employment and Labour.

Order-in-Council 98/2008 terminated the Vice-Chairs and Chair of the Labour Relations Board (LRB) and appointed a new Chair on March 6th.

"The government agrees the firings were without cause. You don't have to look too closely at how this was handled to see that the government's actions were designed to promote business interests, rather than to uphold the purpose of the Trade Union Act, which is to promote union rights. We are alleging that the government in effect is telling the Board to violate its own Act ," said Larry Hubich, SFL President.
(Read more....)

Download full News Release in Adobe PDF Format here.

2 comments:

NC from LabourTalk said...

Larry,

I'd be interested to know why *you* think they were fired.

It is my opinion that they overtly supported the big business union model that gave unions so much unchecked power over employees.

Now that Bill6 has passed it further seems likely that they opposed the passage of a balanced legislation.

As the terminations seem a bit sudden, I am interested to see what your business Union efforts bring to light regarding the actual *why*.

It could be interesting; I have heard much speculation of why they were so suddenly turfed. Turning these rocks over is always enlightening.

Larry Hubich said...

NC,

Thank you for participating in this blog.

The answers to your questions, (and more) will become clear as the case unfolds. Stay tuned.