Human Resources Development Canada. File Blocks 6000-6999, Labour : The Labour Program mission is to promote a fair, healthy, safe, and cooperative work environment that contributes to the social and economic well-being of all Canadians. Their role is to provide Canadians with the skills required to respond to the emerging trends of the workplace and adapt to the changing nature of work itself. They are responsible for the Canada Labour Code, the Employment Equity Act, as well as other legislation on wages and working conditions.
They also ensures the implementation of occupational health and safety legislation as well as the labour standards provisions of the Canada Labour Code. It also administers the Employment Equity Act, Fair Wages and Hours of Labour Act, Government Employees Compensation Act and Merchant Seamen Compensation Act. The Directorate also manages the Federal Contractors Program and Fire Protection Services on behalf of Treasury Board.
For most of the last century, the Labour Program was an independent federal department. Created by the Conciliation Act of 1900, the Department of Labour gathered and disseminated various labour statistics through its flagship publication, the Labour Gazette. The department also helped workers, unions and employers settle labour disputes, and secured fair wages and better working conditions on public work sites.
A Short History of the Labour Program:
By the 1940s, the Department of Labour was influencing the lives of thousands of Canadians through its involvement in federal-provincial shared-cost programs for employment services, technical education, old age pensions and unemployment relief. In addition, the department was involved in combines investigation, vocational education, government annuity programs and fair wage laws on federal public works projects. In 1940, Canada's new Unemployment Insurance Commission came under the direction of the department.
During WWII, the Department of Labour was responsible to "direct civilian labour supply in order to meet the requirements of war and essential services".
In 1966, the Department of Manpower and Immigration was created and manpower planning and employment services, as well as the Unemployment Insurance Commission, were transferred from the Department of Labour to this new department.
While continuing to administer the Canada Labour Code, Part I (Industrial Relations), Part II (Occupational Safety and Health) and Part III (Employment Standards), and the Fair Wages and Hours of Labour Act, the Department of Labour has responded to the ever changing fabric of Canadian society. Over the years, the Minister of Labour has become responsible for administering many other acts and regulations including the Employment Equity Act, the Non-smokers' Health Act, the Government Employees Compensation Act, the Merchant Seamen Compensation Act, the Penitentiary Inmates Accident Compensation Regulations and the Status of the Artist Act.
The department has been involved in many important areas throughout the years. Regarding women's issues, the Women's Bureau was created in 1954 and on the international front, the department has a long history of involvement with the International Labour Organization. In the 1990s, with the signing of the North American Agreement on Labour Cooperation and the Canada-Chile Agreement on Labour Cooperation, the Labour Program expanded its international efforts in support of the well-being of workers. In 1998, the Minister of Labour attended the Inter-American Conference of Ministers of Labour, the first time that a Canadian Minister of Labour had ever attended.
Some major programs and their development:
- Fire Protection Services and Compliance:
This program has three major client groups, the federal public service, First Nations and Crown Corporations. Each receives a different range of services and has a different compliance policy:
Federal Public Service
This program is responsible for the administration and enforcement of fire protection policy and standards for real or personal property under the administration and control of federal government departments and agencies, other than the Department of National Defence. The main activities are: Fire inspection, fire protection design review/approval, fire safety plan review and fire reporting.
First Nations
The program provides fire inspections and fire protection design reviews for major public buildings and schools and First Nations reserves, to assist Bands in meeting their public safety obligations.
Crown Corporations
The program provides fire protection design reviews and fire protection engineering surveys on a cost-recovery basis to certain Crown corporations having agreements for services. These services are provided to corporations that are no longer subject to the Treasury Board Fire Risk Management Policy, but still have a need for professional advice for risk management purposes.
(Labour Program, Fire Protection Services and Compliance, HRDC, 2000)
incendie et rapports sur les incendies.
- Workplace Information Directorate:
The Workplace Information Directorate (WID) is the source for up-to-date, customized information on industrial relations and collective bargaining. They assist employees and employers in preparing for and supporting the resolution of issues at the bargaining table. They can also help them keep abreast of developments in the industrial relations field through their information service and publications. Their sources are used by negotiators, researchers, economists, consultants, journalists, teachers and many others. In Canada and abroad, members of the industrial relations community in the private and public sectors regularly call on the WID.
The prime objective of the WID is the provision of timely and accurate information on collective bargaining and related issues in order to promote effective and informed discussion and research.
The Directorate tracks and analyses collective agreements within both the federal and provincial jurisdictions. They compile data on about 150 types of collective agreement provisions covering everything from working conditions and benefits to wages and cost-of-living allowances. Their ongoing research covers such sectors as primary industries, manufacturing, construction, transportation, communications, trade and finance, service industries and public administration in the federal and provincial jurisdictions. They also maintain the most recent statistics on strikes and lockouts in Canada, and information on unions and other labour organizations in Canada.
(HRDC, Labour Program : Our Business, Workplace Information)
- Labour Adjustment Benefits Program:
The Labour Adjustment Benefits (LAB) program, administered jointly by Labour Canada and Employment and Immigration Canada, provides last resort income maintenance to eligible older workers who have been permanently laid off from designated industries. These are industries which are determined by the federal government to be undergoing significant economic disruptions or adjustment and loss of employment, either nationally, or on a regional or Community basis. In November 1983, Amendments were passed to the Labour Adjustment Benefits Act to provide improved access to benefits.
(Labour, Programme de prestations d'adaptation pour les travailleurs, 15 mars 1985)
- Workplace Equity:
This program is comprised of three major areas:
a) Legislated Employment Equity
This regulatory program is based on the Employment Equity Act. The objective of the Act is to correct conditions in employment which disadvantage women, Aboriginal peoples, persons with disabilities and members of visible minorities, and to ensure progress toward a more representative workforce. It outlines provisions for special measures and for the accommodation of differences to achieve equal access to employment opportunities and benefits. It applies to federally regulated industries, Crown corporations with 100 employees or more, as well as portions of the federal public service. The Employment Equity Act gives the Canadian Human Rights Commission the responsibility for auditing the private and public sectors including the federal public service.
b) The Federal Contractors Program
This program is referenced in the Employment Equity Act and is detailed in a federal government Treasury Board standard published as Treasury Board Circular No. 1986-44. The program objective is the same as that of the Employment Equity program. It applies to provincially regulated businesses with more than 100 employees that secure contracts for the provision of goods and services to the federal government valued at 200,000 or more.
c) Equal Pay
This program comes under the Canada Labour Code, Part III, section 182 and the Canadian Human Rights Act, section 11. The program objective is to ensure that men and women employed within the same establishment are paid equal wages for work of equal value. It applied to federally regulated employers, regardless of size.
(Labour Program, Workplace Equity and Compliance, HRDC library 14 December 2000)
- Occupational Health and Safety:
This regulatory program is based on Part II of the Canada Labour Code. The purpose of Part II is " to prevent accidents and injury to health arising out of, linked with, or occurring in the course of employment to which this Part applies." It applies to federally regulated industries and the federal public service. In addition to Human Resources Development Canada officers, Transport Canada and the National Energy Board of Canada have officers appointed by the Minister of Labour to act as health and safety officers under Part II of the Code.
To facilitate the shared internal responsibility of the work place parties, Part II of the Code requires the establishment of health and safety committee in a work place of 20 or more employees, or the appointment of a health and safety representative where there are five to 19 employees or where other specified conditions exist in a work place, and a policy health and safety committee for employers with 300 or more employees, in addition to the local work place health and safety committee.
Policy health and safety committees, work place health and safety committees, and health and safety representatives have a number of common powers, whereby employers and employees are encouraged to work together to identify and resolve job-related health and safety concerns.
(Labour Program, Occupational Health and Safety and Compliance, HRDC)
- Labour Standards Operations, Program Evaluation Study, 1991:
The objective of the Labour Standards Operations Program is to establish and protect employees' rights to fair and equitable conditions of employment consistent with prevailing social and economic conditions. The client universe consists of all employers and employees across Canada engaged in federal works, undertakings or business such as inter-provincial and international rail, air, marine and roads.
- A Review of Canada's Consultative Process in preparing for Meetings of the International Labour Organization, 1998.
"Much of what begins at the ILO ends up in Canadian collective agreements" "the International Labour Organization is a UN agency with a mandate to promote worker rights and the socialist agenda".
Minister Gagliano supported Mr. Lawson's plea for Canadian business to " take a greater interest and involvement" in the ILO, but pointed out that the Government of Canada engages in "systematic consultations with Canadian employers, and with organized labour before any ILO legal instruments are developed.
The International Labour Organization is the UN specialized agency which seeks the promotion of social justice and internationally recognized human and Labour rights.
ILO founded in 1919 and is the only surviving major creation of the League of Nations. It became the first specialized agency of the UN in 1946. Today, there are 174 states that are members of the ILO.
The ILO, by a vote of its members in conference, establishes labour standards of basic labour rights including freedom of association, freedom to organize, collective bargaining, abolition of forced labour and equality of opportunity and treatment. In addition to core labour rights, standards set by the ILO cover many other diverse areas e.g. occupational safety and health, hours of work, leave, weekly rest, and so forth. These international labour standards can be adopted as "conventions" or "recommendations". There is no obligation to ratify.
At the ILO, the representatives of employers, workers and governments participate on an equal footing. The ILO is the only UN body organized on a tripartite basis.
Canada has been a member of the ILO since 1919 and has consistently played a prominent role in its work.
But the main form of Canadian representation at the ILO takes place through "delegations" named from time to time to attend the annual June conference, or the more frequent meetings of the Governing body, or in a broad range of sector meetings dealing with specific issues in specific economic sectors.
In Canada, the Minister of Labour has determined that the "most representative" employers organization is the Canadian Employers Council and that the most representative workers organization is the Canadian Labour Congress, although, traditionally, the Confederation des syndicats nationaux also holds one of the labour positions on the delegation.
The importance of the ILO to Canada:
1- the impact of the ILO on the international economy.
2- the impact of the ILO on Labour relations in Canada
Most observers seem to agree that the ILO has a limited, indirect but nonetheless real influence on our domestic labour relations environment. Canadian labour legislation and practice is generally at a higher standard than that set by the ILO.
Canada's Objectives at the ILO:
- government: make sure, as far as possible, that conventions and resolutions passed at the ILO reflect Canadian values and norms.
- workers: international workers solidarity is a long-standing principle of the labour movement... In addition, the Canadian labour movement also wants to encourage the adoption of ILO conventions and recommendations which will "raise the bar" with respect to labour issues in Canada.
- employers: the focus of thinking in the global business community is on competitiveness, which leads toward less regulation, less government intervention and less control.
Canada has ratified relatively few ILO conventions (27 out of 176), leading some to criticize Canada's ILO record and to question the value of participating in the ILO at all.
- Canada Labour Code, part II:
En vertu du paragraphe 122.1., le Code canadien du travail, partie II, a pour objet de prévenir les accidents et les maladies liées à l'occupation d'un emploi régi par ses dispositions. Et selon le paragraphe 122.2, la prévention devrait consister avant tout dans l'élimination des risques, puis dans leur réduction, et enfin dans la fourniture de matériel d'équipement, de dispositifs et de vêtements de protection en vue d'assurer la santé et la sécurité des employés.
- Women's Bureau:
In many ways, the history of Canadian women in the workplace since the 1950s is reflected through the work of the Women's Bureau. For forty years, the Women's Bureau has been documenting trends and changes in the workplace. Over the years, the Bureau has worked closely with women's groups, employers in the workplace whether through instituting legislative reform or stimulating changes in attitudes.
The Bureau has advanced the cause of women's equality by publicizing innovative ideas about women's rights and also by promoting Canada's own progressive programs abroad through international forums.
It has published ground-breaking studies on the role of women in the workplace and the discrimination and problems they face, and moniters, with a critical eye, statistics which indicate progress, or the lack thereof, of working women.
The 1950s: A new labour force. New concerns.
During the 1950s, women waited until the arrival of their first child before giving up their job and, as soon as they were freed from the responsibility of raising young children, they wanted to re-enter the workforce.
Problem : lack of skills.
In 1956, the federal female Employees Equal Pay Act came into force to establish equal pay for equal work between men and women.
1960s : New Issues
In the 1950s, the dominant issue was the position of the married woman in the workplace. By the 1960s, the pre-eminent issue had shifted to the position in the workplace of the married women with children. No longer did equality of opportunity simply meant training for a job and being hired. Now it meant adopting the workplace to take account of family needs.
New Views-New Solutions (1970s)
The Royal Commission on the status of women had been given a broad mandate : to ensure for women equal opportunities with men in all aspects of Canadian Society, including "the present and potential role of women in the Canadian Labour force. A substantial proportion of the 166 recommendations in their seminal report dealt with changes in labour legislation and women's employment conditions. The recommendations served as an agenda for change during the decade and beyond.
Almost as soon as the Report was released, governemnents across Canada began to respond to many recommendations. Between 1970 and 1972, 12 provincial legislative enactments on such issues as equal pay for work of equal value, maternity leave and non-discrimination provisions were made.
The 1980s: Entrenching Rights - Removing Barriers.
In 1980, the labour force participation rate for women was over 50%, yet they still only earned on average 64 cents for every dollar that men earned. Women remained segregated in very few occupations. They also found their career prospects blocked by a 'glass ceiling that existed at the management level.
In 1984, the Royal Commission Report on Equality in Employment was released. The report was followed by the enactment in 1986 of the federal Employment Equity Act, which covered federally regulated employers with work forces of 100 or more. The goal of the Act was to persuade employers to adopt concrete measures to eliminate people and people with disabilities.
It was widely recognized that one of the key barriers facing women in the workplace was their family responsibilities.
The 1990s and beyond: Future challenges.
Women are now rapidly approaching 50% of the workforce, yet many issues that were problematic in the 1950s and 1960s - the wage gap, occupational segregation, lack of child care services, balancing work and family responsibilities - are still unresolved today. On the other hand, maternity and parental leaves are now taken for granted and women have moved into many fields both "non-traditional" and professional which they could not have contemplated in the 1950s.
