Mr. Speaker, it is my privilege to rise in the House to speak today to the employees' voting rights act, Bill C-525, put forward by my colleague. The bill aims to amend the rules for union certification and decertification in federally regulated workplaces to ensure that individuals have access to a secret ballot system.
I commend my hon. colleague for raising this issue. Democracy is fundamental to Canadian society, and all employees should have the right to express whether they wish to be part of a union. Why would the NDP and the Liberals want to remove this right, which they would do if they did not vote for Bill C-525?
Canadian labour laws are in place to protect the rights of workers while ensuring a productive environment for businesses. The Canada Labour Code guarantees employees a set of rights, including safe working conditions and minimum labour standards. One of those rights is the right to join or not join a union.
In Canada about 30% of all workers belong to unions, which include the more traditional unionized occupations. They include manufacturing workers, miners, electricians, and workers in other construction trades. They also include professionals, such as engineers and nurses, and employees in federal, provincial, and municipal public administrations, schools, and hospitals.
Unions are for the most part very democratic organizations. The employees' voting rights act would extend that principle. It would help to ensure that all employees would have the opportunity to express their wishes about certifying or decertifying a union.
Currently, under federal labour legislation, a card check system can be used to form a union. If the majority of the employees sign membership cards, the relevant labour board can automatically certify a union. For example, under the current system, if 11 out of 20 employees sign a union membership card, the remaining nine individuals may not even be asked to sign. They may not even be aware that their colleagues want to form a union, yet they would automatically be unionized.
It is like in Manitoba. We all know how unaccountable the NDP members are in Manitoba, with the premier now the lowest in popularity of all the premiers in Canada. I am sure today's byelections in Arthur-Virden and Morris will prove the lack of accountability and democratic accountability even more.
This means that in many cases, unions can be certified without giving all employees the fair opportunity to truly express their wishes.
The employees' voting rights act proposes to eliminate automatic certification and to use mandatory secret ballot votes to certify or decertify unions in all cases. Voting, which was once the exception, would now be the rule for certifying or decertifying unions at the federal level. It would ensure that all employees would have an equal opportunity to express themselves through a secret ballot vote when considering whether to certify or decertify a union.
I absolutely support the right of every employee to a secret ballot vote. It would provide every employee with the ability to voice an opinion and would give people time to fully consider their options. That is why I support the principle of the employees' voting rights act and will vote in favour at second reading.
I have been hearing from stakeholders, and I understand that there may be some concerns about certain provisions of the bill. Mr. Speaker, with your support, the House committee will have an opportunity to carefully study the bill and consult with key stakeholders to consider their input and views. As I said, I support the principle of the employees' voting rights act. The bill must find the right balance between the needs of employees, unions, and employers. I am confident that the bill could do just that.
I would like to encourage my hon. colleagues to support the bill at second reading and to defend the democratic rights of the workers of our country. This legislation would ensure that every federally regulated employee would have access to a secret ballot vote when considering union representation. It would ensure that employees would determine for themselves whether they wished to be represented by a union, and they could have their voices heard.
With any legislation, it is always important to hear the views and feedback of those who would be most impacted and to take these into careful consideration. I have no doubt that the members of this House committee will carefully consider the principles behind this bill and examine the unique perspectives of the employees, unions, and employer groups that will provide needed perspective on this bill.
I would like to again take this opportunity to thank the hon. member for working to support the rights of employees by raising this issue and I encourage my hon. colleagues to stand in support of this bill at second reading.