“Unions are created for one reason: to defend the rights of their workers. Unions are supposed to fight for better working conditions,” stated Hillier. “But today, workers in the province of Ontario have no idea how their money is being spent. They have money deducted from their paycheque every month, but have no way of knowing where that money goes.”

The bill calls for unions to provide a mandatory financial disclosure procedure through the Ministry of Labour, much like the disclosure procedures which already exist for unions in numerous other jurisdictions.

“The only place you can find out about the finances of trade unions in Ontario through the Department of Labour in the US,” noted Hillier. “This government has kept us in the proverbial dark ages of labour relations, because they have a vested interest in keeping union finances hidden.”

The bill also mandates that unions receive a waiver from employees before using their dues for political or social advocacy not directly related to collective bargaining.

“Several years ago, a union here in Ontario supported the Israel Apartheid movement, something that this legislature and our federal parliament have denounced unanimously,” stated Hillier. “The Rand Formula allows unions to take dues from their employees’ paycheques, but Justice Rand never intended these dues to be used for social and political causes outside of employees’ control, and quite possibly contrary to their personal beliefs.”

“My bill will ensure that if trade unions are using their dues for something that doesn’t directly relate to their workers, the employees in question at the very least know about it, and consent to it.”

Randy Hillier, MPP for Lanark-Frontenac-Lennox and Addington brought up questionable union tactics during Question Period today, demanding to know why the Minister of Labour supports questionable methods used by unions in Ontario.

“This government has become a government of special interests, not one of public interest,” said Hillier. “We all know that the McGuinty Liberals receive massive union donations, and so it’s easy to see why we have some of the most backwards labour laws in Canada.”

The question was spurred by a letter from Arc Electric in Ottawa, which has been destroyed by union tactics which have been made illegal in other jurisdictions. The company was victim to “salting” – where union organizers join a company without announcing that their goal is to certify a company, and “stripping”, where a union removes workers from a company, causing it to default on its commitments. It was also forced to compete with “Market Equalization Funds”, where unions subsidize certified companies through union dues collected on other projects.

“The Minister has no answers to these questions. He says that we’re “all in this together”, but his union backers clearly don’t feel the same way. They’re more than willing to bankrupt companies if their employees don’t want to join the union, which puts to bed the notion of worker’s rights,” stated Hillier. “The McGuinty government clearly has no problems picking winners and losers in the marketplace, and we should shine a light on which winners it’s picking.”

Today in Queen’s Park, Randy Hillier, PC Party Critic for Labour, demanded an explanation for why the government has given 100% of the positions on the new Infrastructure Health and Safety Association to unionized workers.

“Only a third of the construction industry is unionized, and those 30% are very generous donors to the Liberal party. I think it’s fair to say there is a conflict of interest when they get political payback like this,” asked Hillier. “Safety should not be a union or non-union issue, and a board dealing with safety should certainly not be a patronage appointment.”

The Building Trades unions, which received the IHSA appointments, donated heavily to the Working Families Coalition, a group with questionable ties to the Liberal Party. Also involved is Stephen Mahoney, former Liberal MPP and chair of the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board, which funds the IHSA. Mr. Mahoney was involved in spending misconduct uncovered by PC Caucus during the last legislative session.

“I hope this government does not think that it can skirt its own integrity rules by making patronage political appointments now that we’ve closed the door on their personal expenses and wild spending,” stated Hillier. “We’ve put forward true economic policy ideas, 10 of them. Fixing the WSIB is among them, because we know that worker safety is of great importance.”

“Apparently, the McGuinty Liberals don’t agree.”

“We look forward to the report of the panel, but it doesn’t require a commission to see glaring problems in Ontario’s workplace safety system,” said Hillier, in Sudbury today. “Ministry of Labour Inspectors are supposed to be the guard dogs of the construction sector, but have become their meter maids instead.”

Workplace accidents are not the result of too few inspectors or poor legislation; it is the result of a shift in the ministry’s mandate for its inspectors from a cooperative methodology of education and training of employers and employees to an adversarial one of penalties and fines.

“Worksite inspectors were present at the site of the Christmas Eve scaffolding accident, and they did not stop the accident from happening,” stated Hillier. “Many inspectors have little to no work experience in the construction industry.”

Hillier called upon the McGuinty Government to mandate that inspectors have real construction experience, and change the focus back to accident prevention and education.

“Creating this ‘review’ is just another example of how Dalton McGuinty is passing the buck,” concluded Hillier. “Minister Fonseca needs to work towards real changes, not appoint a committee to do his job for him.”