Unions unhappy with dues collection proposal

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Terry Parker, business manager for the Saskatchewan Provincial Building & Construction Trades Council, says unions do not want to chase after their members for dues. CBC

Saskatchewan Party Leader Brad Wall says if his party is re-elected he would consider legislation requiring unions to collect their own dues instead of employers.

That's not going over well with labour groups, who worry the change would turn them into collection agents forced to pursue their members for cash.

Currently, Saskatchewan labour law allows for "checkoffs" in unionized shops in which dues are deducted from paycheques as a condition of employment. The company collects the money and then cuts the union a cheque.

But Wall told reporters earlier this week he might look at changing the system so that dues were still mandatory but unions would become responsible for collecting their own money.

"Open to unions collecting their own dues," Wall said on Twitter.

Marilyn Braun-Pollon, Saskatchewan spokesman for the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, says that's a change that its members want and are lobbying for.

"We've surveyed our members in the past and we've got close to 60 per cent of them that would support having unions collect the union dues as opposed to employers collecting it," she said.

On the other hand, if unions had to collect their own dues, it might make them more accountable to their members, she said.

"It would give them another opportunity to communicate directly, monthly, with their union members which we think would be a positive, frankly," she said.

However, the idea is getting a negative reaction from Terry Parker, the business manager for the Saskatchewan Provincial Building & Construction Trades Council, who says unions are not looking forward to having to chase after their members for dues.

"It would be an administrative nightmare for union reps going out onto ... job sites and trying to collect all of the union dues out there," Parker said.

Parker said employers already collect health and pension deductions, so it's no big deal to continue to collect union dues.

He thinks this is another attack on unions courtesy of the Saskatchewan Party.

"Over the last four years we've been battling with Brad Wall," Parker said, referring to changes to labour laws that affect the building trades. "We see this as an extention of that. It is making the unions jump through hoops."

In interviews earlier this week, Wall said while he is open to some changes, the party isn't committing to anything.

But union leaders have noted that in the last election, the Saskatchewan Party didn't say it was going to introduce essential services legislation to limit the number of public sector workers who could go on strike — but then after the election, it ended up doing so anyway.