The following issue deserves a separate post. As I have tried to stress throughout these posts, unions in Canada (and undoubtedly elsewhere) are inadequate organizations for representing the interests of the working class The issue illustrates how union reps limit the development of a critical approach to a society dominated by a class of employers.
I do not remember the exist order of the issue, nor do I remember exactly to whom I addressed my concerns–the executive, the members of the Substitute Teachers’ Committee or to those substitute teachers who had provided the Substitute Teachers’ Committee with their email address during the general meeting of substitute teachers.
There is a possibility that I would be willing to organize a workshop on employment and labour law, but I would like to see if there is much interest in the area. It would not enhance anyone’s particular skills to obtain employment, but it is my view that we need to educate each other about the limitations of what the WTA can do—both for substitute teachers and for teachers in general.
If you would be interested in attending a workshop on employment and labour law, please inform me of this so I can guage whether I should spend the time in selecting material and organizing the workshop.
Fred Harris, chair, Substitute Teachers’ Committee of the Winnipeg Teachers’ Association
In preparation for providing a workshop on labour/employment law, I drafted the following (the parentheses were for me in anticipation of organizing the workshop according to themes or categories):
Employment Law and Labour Law Together
- What do you think are the major differences between an employee and a contractor (a person with her or his own business)? General idea of an employee
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- What is the difference between employment and labour law? Differentiation of employee in general and employee under labour law and collective bargaining.
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- What do you think are some of the differences between a collective agreement and employment agreement? Differentiation of employee in general and employee under labour law and collective bargaining.
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Employment Law
- What are some of the advantages of being governed by employment law? Disadvantages? Employee: non-unionized
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Transition: Employee and Society
- Why are more and more workers becoming employees? General concept of employee
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Labour Law
- Between whom is the collective agreement an agreement? Labour law
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- What is a grievance? Labour law
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- Who “owns” a grievance? Labour law
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- Who generally grieves? Why? Labour law
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- What is interest arbitration? Labour law
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- What is grievance arbitration? Labour law
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- What is a labour board? Labour law
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- What is the difference between a board of arbitration and a labour board? Labour law
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- Does a union or association have a duty towards its members? If so, what is it? Labour law
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- What are some of the advantages of being governed by labour law? Disadvantages?Labour law: Employee
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- What are some of the powers of the labour board? Labour law
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- What was the situation of collective bargaining before the Second World War? Labour law and collective bargaining
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- What did employees do during the Second World War that initiated the legal acceptance of collective bargaining? History of collective bargaining, labour law:
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- Where employees governed by collective bargaining have the right to strike, can they do so during the period in which a collective agreement exists? Limitations on collective bargaining regime here: labour law
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- After the Second World War, what did many employers do in relation to collective bargaining? What was the response of many employees? History of collective bargaining: Labour law
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- What is the certification process? Labour law
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- What is a bargaining unit? Labour law
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- Can employers refuse to bargain with a certified union or association? Labour law
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- What can a group of employees do if the employer consciously interferes in the process of communication between a union and workers when certification has not yet been voted on? Labour law
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- When bargaining, does the duty to bargain in good faith mean that both the employer and the Association have to come to an agreement? If not, what does the duty to bargain in good faith mean? Labour law
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- What are some of the remedies that the Labour Board provides for in case it finds the employer has breached the Labour Code? Labour law
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Transition: Labour Law and Society
- What does the answer to question 7 tell you about the nature of the society in which we live? Relation of labour law to society
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- To what extent do you consider the following description of the nature of private enterprise to be an accurate description? What do you agree and disagree about the description? Employment law and labour law in relation to society
Stage 1: Purchase: M1-C1 (=W+MP). where M1= the money invested; – = an exchange; C1 = the commodities purchased for investment purposes (which consist of MP—means of production—and W—workers);
Stage 2: Production…P… where the three dots represent an interruption in the circulation or exchange process;
Stage 3: Sale: C2-M2, where C2 = the commodity output, with C2 greater in value than C1; and M2 = the return of the money invested, with M2=C2, but greater in quantity than M1.
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General: Employee: Meaning
19. What does being an employee mean to you? General: Employee
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- What does an employment contract mean to you? General: Employee
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- What do you consider the employment contract to involve in relation to your concept of freedom? General: Employee, but Relation to Society
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- What do you think of the view, held by many judges under common law (the legal ground for employment), that the employment contract is an act between equal parties? General: Employee, but Relation to Legal Profession
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- What do you think of Paul Weiler’s argument, in his book Reconcilable Differences, that collective bargaining evens the playing field, making the contracting parties relatively equal in power?Labour law and Society
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- What do you think happened to relations between employees as a result of the change from reliance on each other to force an employer to recognize them to reliance on the Labour Board? Social effects of labour law and collective bargaining
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Introduction
- How do employment law and labour law fit into the general legal framework in Canada? General relation between employment law, labour law and legal framework: Introduction???
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Think-Pair-Share
- What does “company time” mean to you? Employee in general
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- When a boss (say, a principal) passes by you, do you find yourself acting differently than with fellow substitute teachers? If so, why do you think that that is the case? Employee in general
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The last reference to “Think-Pair-Share” is a pedagogical technique, where the individual is given perhaps a minute to think about the issue alone, then shares her/his thoughts with someone else and, finally, answers are shared among the group.
Think-Pair-Share or Some Other Format
- What does being an employee mean to you?
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- What does an employment contract mean to you?
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- What do you consider the employment contract to involve in relation to your concept of freedom?
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- What do you think of the view, held by many judges under common law (the legal ground for employment), that the employment contract is an act between equal parties?
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________.
- What does “company time” mean to you?
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- When a boss (say, a principal) passes by you, do you find yourself acting differently than with fellow substitute teachers? If so, why do you think that that is the case?
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________.
- To what extent do you consider the following description of the nature of private enterprise to be an accurate description? What do you agree and disagree about the description? Employment law and labour law in relation to society
Stage 1: Purchase: M1-C1 (=W+MP). where M1= the money invested; – = an exchange; C1 = the commodities purchased for investment purposes (which consist of MP—means of production—and W—workers);
Stage 2: Production…P… where the three dots represent an interruption in the circulation or exchange process;
Stage 3: Sale: C2-M2, where C2 = the commodity output, with C2 greater in value than C1; and M2 = the return of the money invested, with M2=C2, but greater in quantity than M1.
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I also created slides for the anticipated presentation–but there is no point if repeating what I wrote above in a different format (if indeed slides can be reproduced in this medium).
The following reply illustrates the typical limitations of union reps. I wrote it to substitute teachers (at least to those whose email I possessed) as well as to the members of the Substitute Committee of the Winnipeg Teachers’ Association (WTA):
Coming now to the point on providing a workshop on employment law and labour law, I was going to give the workshop myself, but I will not be doing so. I do feel that I need to explain why I will not.
I have been told, firstly, that I do not have the necessary skills required to provide a workshop on those topics. What do I know, for example, about labour law? I did, however, write two articles in the WTA newsletter via philosophical analysis. I am a philosopher. That is my expertise—a pragmatic philosopher, specifically. I do not need to know how to negotiate a collective agreement—and I do not know how to do so any more than I know how to operate on someone. I do need to know something about labour law and collective bargaining if I am to determine its meaning, but I need not be an expert on it—anymore than I need to be an expert on in order to determine the meaning of life–in order to determine the meaning of collective bargaining—and by extension labour law. If someone disagrees with my analysis of the meaning of labour law or anything else, the democratic thing to do would be to write a refutation of it in the newsletter. To tell me that I have insufficient background in labour law is like saying that I have insufficient background in determining the nature of life bI have taken a course on labour law, as well as attending a couple of conferences funded by the executive. Would these educational opportunities suffice to provide a workshop? Probably not. However, I have been pursuing a doctorate in the philosophy of education for a number of years—in particular pragmatic philosophy. That philosophy inquires into the meaning of relations. The workshop that I had made preliminary plans would include querying the nature of employment law and labour law via an inquiry into what being an employee means to those at the workshop.
I do believe that I am well qualified to provide such a workshop. There is a difference between expounding on how labour law and employment law work and what they mean. The two, of course, are related since the meaning of something cannot be determined without knowing something about the topic. However, I do not have to know as much about anatomy and physiology as a doctor does in order to talk about the meaning of life—a topic in my dissertation.
Since I was denied the opportunity to present labour laws to substitute teachers, I provided notice of a person approved to provide such a presentation, Henry Shyka, staff member of the Manitoba Teachers’ Society and assigned to represent the WTA:
Workshop on Labour Law: Topics required
Good morning everyone,
To give a workshop on labour law, it is necessary to have some input on what topics you would like covered. There is no guarantee that specific topics would be covered, but topics of common concern to substitute teachers would be.
Henry Shyka, MTS [Manitoba Teachers’ Society] representative, would be giving the workshop.
Please send me topics that you might find of interest.
Fred Harris, Chair, Substitute Teachers’ Committee
The Abolitionary 