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Dr. Lorne Sossin and Gil McGowan, President of the Alberta Federation of Labour.
Lack of transparency, accountability
at LRB creates crisis in confidence
A new report commissioned by the Alberta Federation of Labour says that the Alberta Labour Relations Board failed to maintain transparency and integrity in administering Bill 27. Dr. Lorne Sossin, Associate Dean of Law at the University of Toronto prepared the report in the wake of the Bill 27 controversy.
Sossin found that the undisclosed involvement of the Board Chair in preparing the law is “problematic and damaging.” He also said that other province’s hold their LRBs to a higher standard nad that the Board failed to ensure proper transparency, which undermined its integrity among stakeholders.
“Dr. Sossin’s report articulates very clearly that the Labour Relations Board failed in a number of serious respects to uphold its obligations for transparency, impartiality and integrity,” said AFL President Gil McGowan at a news conference on Thursday.
Bill 27 took the right to strike away from thousands of nurses and caused a massive upheaval in Alberta’s health care system. The Alberta Labour Relations Board administered the changes, but last year proof came to light that the Board had also secretly collaborated with the government on drafting Bill 27. UNA took the Board to court over the “apprehension of bias”. The case is now going to appeal.
AFL asks Board to adopt Sossin’s recommendations
Gil McGowan asked the Labour Relations Board to adopt Dr. Sossin’s recommendations to restore integrity and confidence, in a letter to Board Chair Mark Asbell, June 22.
“The Board should develop and issue guidelines indicating the kind of government activities in which Board officials may be involved and how this involvement will be disclosed…” McGowan says in the letter.
Download the Sossin Report
Read more about Dr. Sossin’s report or download the full report from the ALF’s website here… www.afl.org
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