Revoking the Rand Formula

"While union security provisions have been upheld in the courts, they have not been constitutionalized.  The Charter has not been the undoing of union security, but the Rand Formula remains vulnerable to legislative repeal or weakening.
"The Rand Formula is by no means sacrosanct in the political realm."
Debra Parkes, law professor, University of Manitoba

And it seems a politician whose riding represents a huge whack of public servants has been listening to their arguments against having to pay union dues, automatically deducted from their paycheques, even though they have no interest in the unions that claim to represent their best interests.  The Rand Formula holds that anyone in the workforce who benefits from union contracts is obliged to pay dues.

There was, without doubt, a time when such an agreement between government and unions representing public sector service workers made eminently good sense.  Perhaps that time has now passed.  Unions reflect human nature; the greater the successes in obtaining benefits for those whom they represent, the greater their efforts to 'improve' on those successes.

Public servants are well compensated for the work they do.  They also have garnered over the years, and thanks to the unions - giving acknowledgement where it is due - a good many quite exceptional perquisites, over and above by a wide margin what those in the private sector can ever expect, from extra health insurance coverage to retirement benefits to generous sick days and holiday time.

And there does come a time when enough should really be sufficient.  Unions have busied themselves with social activism quite outside their pivotal areas of concern.  And this social activism, supporting causes - usually left-wing in nature - does not reflect the values necessarily of those whose union dues support this extracurricular work.  Where union dues are used to support projects many union members may find hugely objectionable.

As a result there are many among the union membership who would be relieved to find themselves no longer obligated to pay hefty dues to a union whose function they no longer value, and whose preoccupations may be offensive to them.  Militant and political, some of the unions become involved in issues quite beyond their original mandate.

Encouraging their members for example, to vote for a clearly separatist party even though they themselves represent the interests of federal government employees.  Funding an anti-Harper banner declaring that the Prime Minister hates government workers.  Just a whole host of political and social issues from environmentalism to gay rights and beyond, to criticism of the State of Israel, in PSAC support of the "Palestinian cause".

Within the unions are those in management positions who move the agenda forward to reflect their personal values, quite outside the union mandate of representing workers' rights.  They support political action, social causes, in opposition to those who feel the union should stick to its bread-and-butter issues of representation.  The PSAC contributed $334,000 to the NDP election chest; illegally.

So Conservative MP Pierre Pollievre's move to advocate for a legislated end to mandatory union dues may reflect the wishes of many public servants.  And it may serve as a wake-up call to the unions to mind their Ps and Qs.