Some of them are no longer here. I understand.
We hold strongly to the view that true anti-scab legislation minimizes the number of days lost due to strikes and lockouts.
I have made this point before. If industry is truly concerned about lost time and lost productivity, it is not strikes and lockouts they should be worried about.
In my province of Manitoba we lose 50,000 days per year to strikes and lockouts, but we lose 550,000 days per year to injuries and accidents. If they are serious about lost productivity and lost profits, it is not strikes and lockouts that are the problem, it is the carnage in the workplace that is the problem and that is easier to rectify.
We have heard a great deal of whining and bleating from Reform Party members that they do not like the idea of automatic certification. They want a mandatory vote.
They think it is undemocratic to try to level the imbalance in power that exists between employers and employees.
In actual fact, if 50% plus one have signed the cards, the people have spoken. To make them vote twice is undemocratic. How many times will they make them vote? Until they get the answer they want? Over and over and over again? How democratic is that?