(The following article is from the May 16-31, 2008, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St., Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)

About 1,000 demonstrators took part in a May Day protest in Regina, and hundreds more in Saskatoon, against the new Saskatchewan Party government's anti-labour legislation. The Sask Party (formed after the discredited provincial Conservatives disbanded), introduced Bills 5 and 6 shortly last December, less than a month after being elected on a platform which did not mention these proposals.

     Claiming to establish a "fair and balanced" labour environment, Bill 5 (The Public Service Essential Services Act) and Bill 6 (An Act to Amend the Trade Union Act) are strongly biased in favour of employers. The provincial trade union movement says that the two pieces of legislation are "the most aggressive assault on the rights of working people this province has ever seen."

     Bill 5 is the most far-reaching in the country. In essence, it guts the collective bargaining rights of employees of the provincial government, Crown corporations, regional health authorities, Saskatchewan Cancer Agency, universities, SIAST, municipalities, police boards and "any other person, agency or body, or class of persons, agencies or bodies, that is prescribed" by the provincial government.

     By abolishing automatic certification, Bill 6 essentially require employees to vote twice to form a union: once with the signing of a card, and again with the secret ballot. It will also give the employer more time to discourage employees from forming a

union. The minimum percentage of signed cards needed to trigger a representation vote in Saskatchewan will increase from 25%, the lowest in the country, to 45%, the highest threshold in Canada (tied with BC). Bill 6 would give even more power to bosses, by allowing them to communicate "facts and its opinions" to employees, weakening the restrictions that limit employer interference in union organizing drives. The bill will also reduce the time limit for signing up union members during organizing drives from six months to 90 days prior to the application.

     The Bills are expected to be voted on in the legislature this spring.