THE LEGAL ENVIRONMEN

By the end of this chapter, you should be able to$.$ describe the basic elements of the Canadian model of union recognition; discuss collective bargaining and the concept of good faith bargaining;describe agreement administration and provide an example where Canadian laws mandate arbitrators to interpret employment;understand the role of the Charter in industrial relations and identify important Supreme Court decisions affecting labour and management;recognize the impact of employment law on employee rights and conditions;explain the impact of international law on labour relations policy. Visual Summary. Agricultural Workers Voice Concerns in Federal Review of Temporary Foreign Worker Program $($TFWP$)$Agriculture workers met with senior government officials in Leamington, Ontario on Sunday to share their experiences with the Temporary Foreign Workers Program $($TFWP$),$ and to offer some advice as frontline workers in addressing a number of serious gaps in the system, especially when it comes to health and safety, housing, piece rates, and other basic rights and standards.Stemming from the Primary Agriculture Review, the discussion in Leamington on August $19$ is the first of three worker consultations, with the other two scheduled for Abbotsford, B$.$C$.$ and Saint$-$R$$mi$,$ Quebec.The purpose of the review is to provide the federal government with stakeholder input on reforming the agricultural stream of the TFWP$,$ and, more specifically, the recommendations put forward by the House of Commons Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities $($or HUMA$).$ A video of UFCW Canada$$s presentation to the HUMA committee is available for download, as is its paper submission.As the voice of Canada$$s food workers, UFCW has played a constant role in the review process, joining employers and other civil society organizations in putting forward a number of policy ideas, and in working closely with the Agriculture Workers Alliance $($AWA$)$ to lead efforts that ensure migrant workers have a direct say in the review and its outcomes.During the consultation in Leamington on August $19,$ agricultural workers shared the following with senior federal policy makers:Health and Safety: $$Health and Safety training, and inspections, should be mandatory, it$$s not ok that pesticides are being sprayed inside the greenhouse while we are pruning tomatoes. We know it$$s wrong but we can$$t refuse because we don$$t want to be sent back home. If we knew the policies we would have elements to say no$.$ But the overall solution would be to join a union, agriculture workers deserve better,$$ said Rodrigo, in reference to the fact that agriculture workers remain excluded from the Ontario Labour Relations Act.Housing: $$I$$m currently living in a small house with forty co$-$workers, and we are each charged $$500$ per month, $10$ workers per room and eight in the basement, we really need a union otherwise we are voiceless,$$ said Elias.Piece Rate: $$Before I came to Canada I was told that I would be paid per hour but I have been paid piece rate for almost two years, we complained and then the harassment started, the manager asked me to resign, but I didn$$t since then I$$m making half, we should be able to join a union,$$ said Jose, a mushroom worker.Basic Rights: $$I was sick for a week, the doctor gave me a note indicating that I should rest but the manager didn$$t care and called me back to work, I refused and I was terminated. We should have a mechanism to appeal or transfer to other farms. With a union this wouldn$$t happen, agriculture workers really need the right to join a union,$$ said Cecilia, via teleconference from Mexico.Out of fear of reprisal, some of the identities of the above commentators have been modified. As well the consultations were held at the UFCW$-$AWA Agriculture Worker Support Centre in Leamington, which has been assisting agricultural workers in the area for nearly $20$ years, and is regarded by vulnerable worker populations as a safe place for expressing their thoughts on workplace and TFWP issues.Source: UFCW Canada $(2018).$ The preceding vignette highlights why understanding the regulatory framework is so important in industrial relations. Agricultural workers have tended to be excluded from Canadian collective bargaining laws $($see Gesualdi$-$Fectaux, $2016).$ In this chapter, we uncover the origins of the current industrial relations legislation in Canada; examine the principles upon which the law is based; canvass the current state of employment law in Canada; and identify legislative trends. Since the origin of Canadian labour law can be traced to the US Wagner Act of $1935,$ we will employ a comparative approach to illuminate the key aspects of labour legislation.

organize all workers in an industry regardless of skill or occupational status, emerged as a more active and socially oriented movement to protect workers. In the United States, the cause of industrial unionism was advanced. Question: identify how peice of lagislation $($e$.$g Labour Relation Act$)$ or the charter impact labour$/$workers and or work place in your explanatiob be detaleited and provide examples.