For two years, the CHBA-NL has been advocating to reinstate the secret ballot vote, which was removed when automatic card-based union certification was instated.
In a turn of events, the House of Assembly passed Bill 22, an Act to Amend the The Labour Relations Act, which eliminates the automatic card-based system of union certification imposed in 2012.
On behalf of the CHBA-NL membership, the Association has been instrumental in lobbying for this change. In our efforts to see the secret ballot vote reinstated we drafted letters to the Minister, outlining the legal and business case against card-based union certification. Likewise, Victoria Belbin, CHBA-NL CEO, requested meetings with the Minister and had the opportunity, with Board members, to discuss the far-reaching impacts with representatives of the Labour Relations Board.
The CHBA-NL also organized a petition with signatures collected from the membership, along with a statement, were subsequently submitted to the Minister’s office in a show of unity of the industry against automatic card-based certification.
Recently, the Association focused its attention on reaching out to MHA’s to indicate our support of Bill 22 and to encourage leadership to vote in favour.
We are pleased to announce that our efforts, in coordination with other organizations seeking the same outcome, have been successful. As a result, Bill 22 was passed yesterday and we are delighted that government has chosen to move in this direction.
We would like to thank you, the members, for supporting the Association’s work in this regard and for participating in our petition.
View some of the media coverage here:
CBC-TV “Here & Now” – Wednesday, June 4th (approx. 39 min mark)
NTV.ca – Tuesday, June 3rd
NTV Evening News “Carter File”– Tuesday, June 3rd
TheTelegram.com – Wednesday, June 4th
CBC.ca – Tuesday, June 3rd
CBC.ca – Wednesday, June 4th
