For Immediate Release
January 28, 2025
NDP MHA Jordan Brown (Labrador West) is calling on government to do an immediate independent review of the Labour Relations Board, stating that lack of resources, imbalanced processes, and outdated legislation is have a grave impact on workers.
The NDP is hearing from unions and workers across the province about the lack of accountability and efficiency of the Labour Relations Board. While he has brought the issues to the Minister on multiple occasions, Brown says there is a lack of motivation to fix the barriers to workers fundamental rights.
“Every time I bring up labour issues being faced by workers in our province, the Minister will respond with the need for ‘balance’, yet what I see, and what workers see, is the government’s clear favouritism of business,” said Brown. “We are anticipating thousands of direct and indirect jobs in our province in the coming years. The Minister must act to ensure that the Labour Board is operating properly.
“We continue to hear that unions are having to wait anywhere from three to six weeks for union vote counts, when it clearly states in the legislation a 5 business day limit. The wait time allows for employer interference which can dissuade workers from forming a union,” said Brown. “Staff shortages and the high turnover rate is delaying applications from being processed. This is not good enough.”
Brown says that an independent review of the Labour Relations Board would help improve the operations, while also modernizing the legislation to reflect today’s workplace realities. He also states that there are other solutions.
“Reintroducing card-based certification would allow workers to organize by reaching a majority vote from employees without the need for a formal election through the board. Additionally, bringing forward anti-scab legislation, as the Federal government has, to protect striking workers. There are options. The Minister is choosing none of them.
“We owe it to all workers in our province to fix this essential service to protect their rights. One side of the scale is workers, and if the Minister wants ‘balance’, it’s time that she weighs the scales equally.”
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For further information, contact Stephanie Curran, Media and Communications Officer, NDP Caucus at 330-0328 (o), or stephaniecurran@gov.nl.ca
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