Supremes Strike Down Essential Services Laws

That worked in Wisconsin.......

"Supremes Strike Down Essential Services Laws....."

I'm surprised there were 2 that know how to think clearly.

The other 5 are convinced they know how to circumvent democracy.

And they do. Every time!

Is there a constitutional right to fire them all?

Time for governments to set up parallel agencies,
fire all existing employees, and give them the
option to re-apply for new jobs at the new agencies.

Push the big reset button......

Well...there's only so much bugdet money for public sector jobs. So if the unions are thinking they won anything they should think again. This will be the start of private sector competition. If Essential Services can now strike shouldn't Canadians be allowed to hire someone else who's qualified who won't strike?

If Michigan can do it....why not here?

Sounds as though taxpayers should now have the right to form a union and strike when they're unhappy with the services they're getting or the costs. And if there's a right to freedom of association, there must also be a right to not be compelled to join a union.

Prediction: pre-election strikes

The unions have achieved nothing - the general taxpayer is so fed up with the high salaries and benefits that they pay for and in return get nothing of value. Public sector unions need to read the tea leaves and realize that if they keep striking or demanding they will go the way of Canada Post - no longer even deemed an essential service to most Canadians.

This is probably good for the taxpayer. Arbitrators are so in the bag of unions that they usually got more without the pain of needing to strike. They're just too stupid to realize this. Let them strike, replace them, fire them. And yes, right to work legislation should be done.

The only place the union movement has any currency is in the public service. In every other sector it is a spent force. Hard times are ahead and here in AB the union are mustering for a war with the provincial government.

The bottom line is, they should never have been given collective bargaining rights. I think Lester Pearson granted the federal civil service CBR's and it's been down hill ever since.

I don't think Brad Wall has what it takes to bring in a 'right to work' law. It is SK after all and RTW is so....well it's just un Canadian.

In an ideal world, there should be no labour law where "collective bargaining and agreements" would be bound only by contract law. Given the depth down the Rabbit hole of labour-friendly law that we find ourselves, legislation to "fix" the effects of previous legislation is likely the only way up. Right to work legislation is a good first step and an opening salvo in what would become open war with the labour/NDP complex.

Given that public sector unions through their political action are a de facto conspiracy against taxpayers (influencing both sides of the negotiating table), their unions should either be abolished or their members should be denied the right to vote. That would be a debate we will never see.

The biggest union is the government, and we can't opt out of paying them, can we?
The best thing a government ever did was throw us a few crumbs of what is actually ours in the first place, and watch all the people scream their gratitude.

I can't wait to see the unionized RCMP in action.

In the minds of the great thinkers at SCC, workers have a "right" to strike. This is the same bunch that decided the Charter covers anyone who sets foot on Canadian soil.

Beverley Mclachlin is probably the most destructive SCC chief we've ever had,rivalling Trudeau Sr. for her negative effect on Canada.

But she is SO much more intelligent that all the rest of us, just ask her.

Didn't the ambulance drivers in England go on strike in the late 1970.

Unionized RCMP? You're not far off.

RCMP 911 Operators across the country are being moved from either Civilian Members (or "TCE", Temporary Civilian Employees) over to the Public Service. They were supposed to get it completed last year, but they keep kicking the can down the road, as Treasury (who is supposed to figure out where a 911 Operator fits in the PS pay matrix since they don't have any direct correlation) keeps postponing any kind of decision.

Imagine 911 operators going on strike!

Disclosure: Yes, I worked as a 911 Operator for a year. AMA

We should not forget that Mr Harper appointed seven of those nine Justices of the SCC. Yes, the three who wrote the decision included two Liberal appointees (McLachlin and Abella, and one Conservative appointee, LeBel), but two who concurred (as well as the two who dissented) were Harper appointees.

Because of his lack of attention to the importance of judicial appointments, Mr Harper has wasted a good deal of people's time, effort, and money on his noble project to bring common sense back to Canadian society.

So from the CTV article, the problem is not with the law but the determination of what is an essential service. They found that if the 2 parties can't agree, then 1 party can not dictate to the other what is an essential service (in this case the government).

Seems to me the simplest solution is to write into the law if the 2 parties can not agree, then all services will be included in a general election ballot and any service receiving 50+% will automatically become an essential service. With the public making the call, the Supreme Court will not have a problem with this and the unions will be terrified that everything will be deemed an essential service and drive them back to the bargaining table.

Why not start by abolishing SGI? Nobody involved in auto insurance in other provinces ever goes on strike because they have competitors.

No public sector (ie-taxpayer signs the paycheques, including any government agencies whatsoever) strikes at all, just binding arbitration for all, where one, or the other position is imposed to encourage discipline by all in negotiations. Done. Undo Lester Pearson's damage.

Harper's Supreme Court appointees sure were duds and yes that is his own fault. I know maybe a half dozen lawyers and having talked to them know that half would enforce the law as written and half would rewrite it. Didn't anyone vet the judges for conservative consistency in past judgements. If worst comes to worst have someone ask them their opinion on activist judges. How hard can it be? I suspect late in the game Harper is now actually looking for more conservative judges.

During FDR's administration there was a push to unionize federal workers. He said no as fed workers work for the people and not the government.

I know very few people that work in unions want to strike. If you strike it's very unlikely that you will ever make up the loss. Most vote for a strike to give their team bargaining power, but the downside is that every once and awhile you will need to to show your not bluffing. General strikes will be few and far between, they deplete the strike fund quickly. Much better to strategic strike, having a few workers that generate revenue or do critical tasks that are a bottleneck in the operation strike, maximum pain to the employer, minimum pain to the customer/taxpayer.

Best favour the government employees can do us taxpayers is strike.
Amazing how little benefit the taxpayer will be denied.

There is an easy way out of this. When you hit a deer at night on the Trans-Canada, and after you've killed it humanely using your tire wrench, the next day you drive to an SGI adjustment center. They tell you to drive to your favorite body shop and get the $2500 plastic (made in China) grille replaced with a $250 made in India replica and the old Chevy looks good again.

Why couldn't we have a similar system for humans? You go to the clinic of your choice with whatever insurance you have and they fix you! Ok so the nurses strike--you go to the clinic down the road. As for medicare--you would always be aware of the actual cost of the medical procedure.

When PET Trudeau introduced the Charter, I remember watching the famous moment where he and the Queen signed off our Commonwealth Citizenship, and Dad said, ''The government of Canada has just been replaced by the Supreme Court.''

Guess my late Dad was right!

Many want the Senate killed off. It is the Supreme Court that must be destroyed.
They do nothing as far as contributing to democracy, They are a group above and beyond - no democratic backing but with immense powers. They live and work in the shadows. Virtually no one knows who they are or when they issue their orders. They must be stopped so that the electors retain the ultimate power.

The true right to freedom of association merely means that under most circumstances you can associate with other people as you see fit. It also means, by definition, that you can choose not to associate with certain people. Nowhere does it grant privileges like collective bargaining where an employer cannot exercise his or her own freedom of association to break contact with workers who choose remove their labour.

The Supreme Court has been fouling up this file at least since Lavigne in 1991. The Charter s.2 is plain as day, but the interpretation is far from correct. (I have yet to read the current judgment, and don't plan to do so immediately)

Rather than bringing in right-to-work, what needs to be done is to abolish the notion of the "bargaining unit". There is no such thing under the true right of freedom of association.

Incidentally, Justice LeBel was a Chretien appointee in 2000, not one of Harper's.

And yes, there should be a way of removing judges. For example, there could be a national referendum on each Supreme Court judge at every federal election, unless the judge has been on the Court for less than a specified period of time (say, five years) or unless the previous referendum was recent (say, within the past three years). Or they could be scheduled at other semi-regular intervals.

It's been nearly a year since the Nadon ruling came out. If one of dissenting Justice Moldaver's comments means what I think it means, then none of the majority are fit to sit on the bench. (I did read the ruling at the time but I don't recall the exact majority wording to which he referred, and the exact wording is crucial)

The notion that judges are "independent" is ridiculous when certain of them are in thrall to an extreme left-wing ideology. The public should have recourse to counter the politicians' idiotic choices.

I recall having a converstion with a cop...regarding transport of booze....

I asked why no police searches of the Hydro line trucks late Fridays.....

Background: regularly Fridays, 15:30, ALL the Hydro trucks are parked outside the beer store.

He grinned and said "professional courtesy"....

Last time Brad Wall's party associated themselves with you, it didn't go so well. You're like the Sarah Palin of the GOP that they all want to go away.