Workplace and labour rule changes too much at once: Chamber

There are some concerns that the provincial government is taking on too much at once with its bid to modernize Alberta’s workplace legislation for the first time in nearly three decades.

The Fair and Family-Friendly Workplaces Act proposes that Albertans be allowed to take unpaid leave to look after themselves and loved ones without fear of losing their jobs.

It would also bring maternity and compassionate leave up to federal standards, set new rules for overtime and vacation pay and simplify how unions can be formed or disbanded.

“I think the biggest issue is they decided to lump together the labour relations review and the employer relations,” says Reg Warkentin, Policy Coordinator – Red Deer and District Chamber of Commerce. “Rather than just dealing with these issues separately, they’ve lumped them together and it’s basically an omnibus bill with two very different packages that they’re trying to push through.”

Warkentin adds, “When it comes to the labour relations stuff, the unionization and the changes to the secret ballot rules, those are going to raise a lot more red flags and concerns for all businesses here.”

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In regards to employment standards, Warkentin says there’s much to like with what the province is putting forward.

“Really, I think a lot of the employers I know were already doing these things. They were already giving overtime, doing parental leave, not charging people for gas and dash,” he says.

“Our concern is the timing of it. If you look back over the past two years and see just the number of changes that have occurred this is just one more thing businesses are going to have to learn to deal with in a tough economic time. It’s not to say all the changes are bad, it’s just to say we’re really struggling. The economic turnaround doesn’t seem to be happening at the pace a lot of people hoped and now we have one more hurdle to kind of compete with.”

Warkentin says he also remains concerned that not enough time was given for input into the proposed changes.

“The whole turnaround time, the consultation period, was very short, very limited. We did have our partners from the Alberta Chambers take part in consultations in Edmonton, and the feedback is that the deck was stacked against business reps. The vast majority of the people at these consultations were the union reps . Now the actual debate on the bill is also very short. It would be fair to say that the perception is that these changes are being pushed through at a very quick pace.”

The province says it received more than 7,000 submissions during its consultation period for the legislation.

Labour Minister Christina Gray said Wednesday the NDP government wants to have the legislation pass in time for it to go into effect in the New Year.