'Canada’s international reputation as a defender of human rights is suffering.' - James Clancy
Ottawa (Dec. 8, 2006) - The National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) is inviting groups and individuals across Canada to celebrate human rights and help educate others by distributing a new poster which marks the occasion of International Human Rights Day.
International Human Rights Day is celebrated annually around the world on Dec. 10, the anniversary of the ratification of the 1948 United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
The Declaration was one of the UN’s first major achievements, and remains a powerful instrument and symbol worldwide. Article 23 of the Declaration recognizes the right to join a union and bargain collectively as a basic human right. Few people know that the historic document’s first draft was written by a Canadian.
UN Declaration: Principal author was a Canadian
The principal author of the Declaration was a native of New Brunswick named John Peters Humphrey. He practiced law from 1929 to 1936, when he joined the faculty of law at McGill University of Montreal.
In 1946 he was appointed as the first director of the human rights division of the United Nations Secretariat, where he was the principal drafter of the Universal Declaration. He retired from the UN in 1966 to rejoin McGill, remaining active in the promotion of human rights in Canada and internationally until his death, at the age of 89 in March 1995.
Among his many honours, Humphrey was made an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1974, "in recognition of his contributions to legal scholarship and his world-wide reputation in the field of human rights".
Canada's hidden human rights deficit: Freedom of Association
Canada has much to celebrate in the field of human rights. But improvements can be made, especially in terms of respecting, protecting and promoting labour rights as enshrined in Article 23 of the Declaration.
Many governments and private sector employers in Canada today are intent on diminishing labour rights, specifically the right to freedom of association, which includes the right to join a union, bargain collectively and go on strike.
An extensive study by the National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) and the United Food and Commercial Workers Canada (UFCW Canada) documents how the right to freedom of association has been abused and eroded in Canada over the past 25 years. The study is entitled Collective Bargaining in Canada: Human Right or Canadian Illusion?
It analyzes 175 pieces of legislation passed by Canadian governments since 1982 that were used to deny workers the right to join a union and engage in collective bargaining, to outlaw the right to strike, to impose collective agreements on workers and to allow employers to engage in an array of anti-union activities.
For example, earlier this year, several public sector unions launched a Charter challenge against the New Brunswick government on behalf of thousands of casual employees who are denied their basic right to freedom of association. Labour legislation in that province stipulates that casual public sector workers cannot join a trade union until they work for six consecutive months.
Similar labour law exists in Ontario preventing over 16,000 part-time college workers and most workers in the agriculture industry from joining a union. There are also examples across the country where labour legislation does not protect workers from private sector employers that engage in anti-union activity, like Wal-Mart.
UN agency condemns labour violations by Canadian governments
These legislative restrictions have been condemned by the International Labour Organization (ILO) for their lack of compliance to freedom of association principles.
In fact, since 1982 Canada has had one of the worst records of any ILO member state, having been found guilty 68 times for passing restrictive labour legislation that does not conform to the ILO’s freedom of association principles.
NUPGE calls on government to restore labour rights
“Canada’s international reputation as a defender of human rights, especially the rights of workers, is suffering,” says James Clancy, president of the 340,000-member National Union.
"We believe it’s imperative that Canada restore its international reputation by cleaning up its record on workers’ rights. It is hard to fathom that 68 years after the UN Declaration of Universal Human Rights was proclaimed, there are thousands of Canadians who are denied one the most basic rights contained in the Declaration," he said..
"Governments across Canada need to reaffirm that all workers have the right to join and form unions without interference by an employer or government and the right to bargain collectively as the means of determining their wages, working conditions and terms of employment.
“This would be the best way to honour the legacy of Mr. Humphries,” Clancy added. NUPGE
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