安省最低工资改革如何影响工会

 

 

 

为强化“公平工作场所和更好的就业法”，“就业标准局”将被赋予新的权力，包括将那些违反“就业标准法”雇主的大名公布于众，决定所欠工资和非法向员工收取费用的利息，提高对违规雇主的最高行政罚款。“就业标准”局还可以授权讨债公司将雇主的不动资产和个人资产冻结，或用雇主的金融证券作赔偿担保。

To strengthen the enforcement of the Fair Work Places and Better jobs Act, the Director of Employment Standards will be given new powers to publish information on Employers who are not in compliance with the Employment Standards Act, set interest rates to unpaid wages and unlawfully charged fees to employees, and to increase the maximum administrative monetary penalties to non-compliance employers. The Director of Employment Standards can also authorize a collector to issue warrants, place liens on real and personal property and to hold a security while a payment plan is underway.

 

为促进新工会的成立，政府将对“劳资关系法”作出修改。相关的更改如下：

To facilitate the establishment of new unions, the government will make changes to the Labour Relations Act on union certifications. The more relevant changes are as follows:

 

1）只要能够证明已经获得了20％员工的支持，工会就可以获取雇主员工的名单和联系信息。

1) Allow unions to access employee lists and certain contact information, provided the union can demonstrate that it has already achieved the support of 20 per cent of employees involved.

 

2）明确授权安省劳工关系委员会（OLRB）可以在工作场所外举行工会投票，包括以电子方式和电话投票。

2) Expressly empower the Ontario Labour Relations Board (OLRB) to conduct votes outside the workplace, including electronically and by telephone.

 

3）OLRB可以授权劳资关系官员决定表决程序和投票管理，以确保投票过程的中立。

3) Empower the OLRB to authorize Labour Relations Officers to give directions relating to the voting process and voting arrangements in order to help assure the neutrality of the voting process.

 

4）这些建议会将“劳资关系法”规定的最高罚款额增加到个人5,000元，团体10万元（目前个人最高罚款2,000元、团体25,000元）。

4) The proposals increase maximum fines under the Labour Relations Act to $5,000 for individuals and $100,000 for organizations (from the current $2,000 for individuals and $25,000 for organizations).

 

The province plans to hire up to 175 more employment standards officers and launch a program to educate both employees and small and medium-sized businesses about their rights and obligations under the Employment Standards Act. The government feels that education will help employers understand their obligations.

安省计划雇用多达175名就业标准官员，并启动一项计划，教育雇员和中小企业有关“就业标准法”中的权利和义务。省府认为这将有助于雇主了解其义务。

 

一旦那些在2020-2021年新雇用的就业标准官员上岗，就业标准计划将解决所有在90天内提出的索赔，并对安省10%的工作场进行抽查。此外，该计划将专门向新的中小企业提供援助。这将有助于雇主了解他们的义务。执法将重点放在违反法律、进行不公平竞争的雇主身上，为遵守规则的大多数雇主提供平等的竞争环境。

Once the new employment standards officers are hired by 2020-2021, the Employment Standards program will resolve all claims filed within 90 days and inspect 1 in 10 Ontario workplaces. Additionally, the program will provide compliance assistance to new employers specifically focusing on medium and small business. This will help good employers understand their obligations. Enforcement will focus on employers who compete unfairly by breaking the law, and will level the playing field for the majority of employers that follow the rules.

 

我们可以看到，仅让这些“新”官员上岗就将会花费纳税人近一千万元的税款。而且，所有这些加入工会的公务员和主管都将拿超过每小时15元的最低工资。

We can see that these “new” officers will cost the taxpayers up to ten million dollars just to get off the ground in the first year. Needless to say, all of these union workers and supervisors will make way more than the $15 minimum wage per hour.

 

就以上这些问题立法的“咨询”过程已经结束，由自由党控制的全省巡回咨询报告也将出台。反对党（进步保守党）已经对此有立场了。保守党早些时候说：“最低工资（增加）太多和增加（速度）太快”。但他们没有提出具体的取代政策。

The “consulting” meetings on the proposed legislation are now completed and a report controlled by the Liberals within the touring committee will be issued. The opposition party (Progressive Conservatives) already took their stand and stated earlier: “too much (of an increase) and (at a pace) too quick”. They do not provide concrete counter proposals.

 

另一方面，新民主党说这个新法例“离他们的要求还有很大距离”！他们在2017年8月10日提出以下建议：

On the other hand, the New Democratic Party says that this new legislation “falls far short of what is needed”! They proposed the following changes on August 10, 2017 :

 

1）所有工人均应享受五天病假或紧急事假（而不是两天）。

1) Five paid sick or emergency days for all workers (instead of 2).

 

2）工作一年后就可以享受3周有薪假期（而不是2周）。

2) Three weeks of paid vacation after first year of employment (instead of 2 weeks)

 

3）禁止雇主向某些工种的员工支付低于最低工资的工资（比如学生和侍酒生）。

3) Ending exemptions that allow some worker categories to be paid less than minimum wages (students and liquor servers).

 

4）使雇主更难以“合同工”的方式雇人。

4) Making it harder for employers to label long-time workers “contractors” instead of employees.

 

这个新法主要是针对那些拿最低工资的人士，以及那些小时工资不到15元的员工。政府希望以这些金钱和工作保障措施能给他们带来选票。问题是，雇主无法承受18个月内工资增长32％的负担。许多雇主会破产，而其他雇主则会削减员工，或将生意搬到其他省份。

This legislation is catered to those making minimum wages and others who are making less than $15 an hour. The government hopes to pick up their votes with those monetary and job security incentives. The employers cannot simply adapt to the 32% of increase in wage over just 18 months. Many employers will go bankrupt while others will cut back on staff or move their operations out of the province.

 

这是执政的自由党为了赢得大选而窃取了新民主党的政策。选民在自由党的诱饵前应该先想想一个古老的谚语 - “三思而后行”。

This is yet another election ploy stolen from the NDP by the governing Liberal Party. Before voters jump on the bandwagon, they should first think about an ancient proverb - “Look before you leap”.