= Prescriptions for treating

HEY parents: anyone
for a spirited discus-
sion on revamping
labour relations in this
province?

Your kids might want to
join in too, considering
they’ve just had a week's
crash course in how those
dysfunctional relations screw
innocent bystanders.

And while parents might
be raining fire upon those
manning the picket fines in
this latest outrageous educa-
tion interruption in B.C.,
stories always have more than
two sides.

Consider for example
that, as pointed out in last
week’s Yarn, the chief gov-
ernment negotiator in the
CUPE dispute swanned off
for a week's vacation on

» March 16 at negotiation
crunch time. His scheduled
return date: Sunday, March
26, the day before CUPE’s
March 27 strike deadline.

Taik about arrogance in

~ the face of adversity.

But Tony Penikett’s excel-
lent vacation adventure is

- merely one example of this
‘province’s approach to culti-

“vating labour relations.

B.C. remains stuck in the
archaic collective bargaining

_- box with confrontation as

the only means of reaching -

| » mailbox

agreement.

In the current illustration
of that boxing match, your
kids are taking the most
shots to the solar plexus.

Government and Big
Labour merely waltz around
the ring in a no-win charade.

So what to do besides
wring hands and gnash teeth?

How about some funda-
mental labour relations
changes in B.C.

Radical idea, no?

The Coalition of BC
Businesses thinks not.

. The organization, which
represents 50,000 small and
medium-sized businesses in
B.C and includes the BC
Chamber of Commerce, the
Vancouver Board of Trade
and the Retail Council of
Canada, recently released a
report on where it thinks
those changes need to be
made,

Labour Policies That
Work has been in the works

for the past year.

It’s a response to, among
other factors, the aforemen-
tioned boxing matches that
continue to undermine
B.C.'s economy and dull its
competitive edge; it’s a call
for some much-needed
employment law flexibility in
a rapidly changing market-
place; and it’s a cry for help
from businesses and employ-
ers to level the labour rela-
tions field that a decade of
NDP rule has banked so far
in favour of Big Labour it
has seriously undermined the
ability of businesses to oper-
ate in this province.

As the coalition’ S report
points out: *... by a whole
range of indicators, B.C.’s
economy has dramatically
slipped against other
provinces and key competi-
tors over the past decade ..
the (coalition) contends that
the entrepreneurial and inno-
vative spirit required to
restore B.C.’s economy will
flourish only if our elected
officials fundamentally
rethink outdated approaches
to provincial labour policies.

Take, for example, the
Labour Relations Code, the
NDP’s 1992 benchmark pay-
off to Big Labor. The bill
laid the groundwork for the
unionization of B.C. by,
among other things, remov-

n

ing secret ballot voting in
union certification drives and
automatically certifying trade
unions within a company if
55% o7 more of the compa-
ny’s workers sign union
cards.

As the coalition points
out: aside from eliminating a
fundamental democratic
right, the removal of a secret
ballot vote robs employees of
the opportunity to make a
key workplace decision “away
from the persuasive efforts of
union organizers, employers
and fellow employees.”

And unlike gathering
union cards, a secret ballot
vote provides a clear indica-
tor of what employees want.
By some twisted socialist
logic the labour code retains
the reauirement for secret
ballot voting for decertifica-
tion, strike votes and final
contract offers. Important
decisions all. Why then has it
been removed for an equally
important decision for union
certification?

The short answer: the
labour code as drafted by the
NDP is just that — a code
for labour not business.

The coalition also recom-
mends rewriting the code so
that both employers and
unions have equal rights of
free expression.

In any sane land, you'd

Distress from dog’s death recounted

Dear Editor: ;

:Do you remember on the
*- morning of March 8 someone
at your work who seemed
somewhat withdrawn?

*. Do you reéall a husband or
father. who was’ just a litle
ut touchy?: :

Did someone in your class
seem nervous and a litle prone
to lau laughing ¢ too readily and too

Bid someone snap at you in
a. store when you : took. too
long ‘to make a decision on
our purchase?

‘Do - you’ remember being
honked ‘at in traffic and notic-

ing erratic driving that a full .

moon didn’t cause?

. Was . someone you know ©
Yai litde. more’cold than}
usual “or. perhaps alternately .
weepy, then Bry or indiffer:" :

and they may not verbalize
their distress.

However, what happened
at around 7:30 a.m. on that
morning can not go untold.

I would. apologize myself
for having allowed my
unleashed dog to have strayed
onto the section of road at
20th and Mahon but the pe:
son who displaced that volume
of blood from her head a dis-
tance of cight feet across the
sidewalk didn’t stop.

So remember when some-
one you know and care for
doesn’t treat you in a consider-
ate and respectful way.

It’s because they are not
fecling really good about
themselves.

I have to say it wasn’t easy
to bury my dog bombarded by
thoughts of “whai ifs” and “if
only” though I suspect the
other party’s guilt will be hard--
er still to bury and reconcile.

Maybe this will help.

Mike Weir would like to thank his clients
’ for voting him one of the North Shore's
FAVOURITE Accountants in the North Shore News
Readers’ Choice Awards.

He would also like to take this opportunity
to introduce the other partners in the firm.

Michael S. Weir, BB... CA.
professional partnerships,
estate planning and tax issues for
-ownermanaged enterprises

Darryl J Parsons, cGA,CA._-
areas of practice specialty include andit
of public and private companies,
as well as professional services for
ownermanzgetl enterprises

Weir &

CHARTERED ACC

Michael W. Byrne, ca.
taxation of trusts and estates, taxation
of professionals and issues for |
owner-managed enterprises

Bradley E. Curtis, 84, CA.
the lumber and restaurants industries. ~
and the taxation of non-resident
investments in Canada

rne

UNTANTS :

147 West 16th Street, North Vancouver 986-9440. :

Also, a big thank you to all
passersby, neighbours, SPCA
staff and veterinarians who did
take the time and let their
humanity show.

Trevor Warrington
North Vancouver

" PLAY =
Infants

Babies sitters to

eorly walkers

active runners
fo 2 years -

Toddlers

Children 2 to 5 years

Sunday, April 2, 2000 —- North Shore News - 7

think equality on that front
would go without saying.

But this is not a sane
land.

The coalition points out
that any statement made by
an employer that attributes
any negative consequences to
unionization or is negative
about unions generally is
considered an unfair labour
practice. Yet union organizers
are free to criticize employers
and make union campaign
promises that may be mis-
leading or have a limited
grounding in reality without
facing similar censure.

The code also makes it far
easier for workers to bring a
union into their workplace
than to get rid of one.

Also sticking in the coali-
tion’s craw is the Labour
Relations Board and its
skewed vision of how it
mediates employer/union
beefs.

The coalition’s report

.C.’S labour pains

opines that there’s a crisis of
confidence in the board’s
impartiality in administrating
labour relations law and poli-
cy in B.C.

The reality of course is
that the board has proved far
from impartial.

Guess who has benefited
from that lack of impartiality?
No space here to delve

into the NDP's misguided
union-only hiring policy or
its minimum wage increase
mania that is steadily eroding
entry-level job opportunities
for youth.

Space only to applaud the
coalition for its efforts and to
urge anyone interested in
removing labour pains from
this beleaguered province to
demand that its recommen-
dations be instituted.

The 1.7-million-plus
school days lost this past
week should be more than
enough incentive.

—trenshaw@nsnews.com

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