Three months ago, Mike Cardinal said he would be giving serious consideration to so-called first contract legislation following the settlement of a three-week strike at Lakeside Packers. But Cardinal told The Canadian Press Friday that he no longer sees a need for a law that would force an arbitrated settlement for a first contract if the two sides fail to bargain a deal.Now, nobody would expect the Klein government to take any action beyond the bare minimum to protect workers. But even in the face of those low expectations, it shows nothing but contempt for workers that the Lakeside dispute is apparently being treated as an aberration rather than evidence of a need for at least some changes to protect Alberta's workforce. And that's doubly so when Cardinal had already promised action in the past.
"I don't plan to make any changes," he said in an interview after touring the Lakeside slaughterhouse in Brooks, Alta. "Let's leave things as they are."...
"We're deeply disappointed that the minister hasn't taken this opportunity to improve our labour laws," said Gil McGowan, president of the Alberta Federation of Labour...
Tom Hesse, the chief union negotiator in the Lakeside dispute, was also dismayed that Cardinal had decided to drop any further discussion of a first-contract law...
Hesse said a first-contract law could have prevented the violence during the Lakeside strike that sent three pickets to hospital.
Cardinal's justification seems to be based on the prospect that in a tight labour market, workers shouldn't need any added protection. But workers will have the option to vote both at the polls and with their feet - and Alberta's government has plenty to lose in both areas if it refuses to do anything to help the workers needed to carry out the province's plans.
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