On February 1, 2022, the final changes mandated by Alberta’s Bill 32, the Restoring Balance in Alberta’s Workplaces Act (2020), came into effect. The bill makes a distinction between core and non-core uses of union dues. According to the bill, core activities are the normal business of administering a trade union to best defend the interests of its members, while non-core activities, such as contributions toward political or social causes, are of indirect or no benefit to dues payers.
Examples of core expenditures include legal expenses for grievances, union staff salaries, and conference attendance. Examples of non-core dues include donations to political parties or political campaigns.
The bill requires the following:
The union must distinguish core from non-core activities as a percentage of expenditures and then inform its members accordingly.
If some activities are deemed non-core, the union must hold a dues election to allow members to choose whether they agree to have a portion of their dues used to help pay for non-core activities. (Members who do not opt in therefore pay slightly lower dues.)
Members who disagree with the union’s decisions may pursue an appeal with the Alberta Labour Relations Board.
AUFA’s Determination
The AUFA executive has determined that all AUFA expenditures are core. This means that, according to our analysis of the bill and associated regulations, AUFA does not and will not spend money from dues on activities that are deemed non-core.
As a result, AUFA is not required to run a dues election. Dues payments will continue as normal. However, AUFA members now have a right to challenge AUFA’s use of dues at the Alberta Labour Relations Board through the appeal mechanism mentioned above. A successful challenge would require future dues elections or a change to the AUFA budget.
The AUFA budget is presented to members each year at the General Membership Meeting in May. It is separated by expense type, showing both the actual expenses of the previous fiscal year (which runs April to March) and then the budgeted expenses for the next yet. Any details on last year’s expenditures or anticipated expenditures are available to AUFA members from Treasurer Gail Leicht at treasurer@aufa.ca
Donations and Affiliation Dues
What exactly should be determined non-core is not especially clear in the bill and associated regulations, and unions across the province have come to slightly different interpretations. Donations and affiliation dues fall into a grey area.
Donations to political parties are clearly non-core, but AUFA does not donate to political parties, and the current executive has no intention of starting to do so. Donations that may or may not fall into the broader category of “social causes” are less clear-cut—some “causes” may indeed directly impact members, while others are more indirect. AUFA’s donation budget, however, is 0.006% of the total budget—a figure much too small to meaningfully separate from biweekly dues payments. In designating all activities as core, however, the AUFA executive will need to consider the constraints of Bill 32 in approving future donations. In addition, occasional large donations that fall beyond the scope of the year’s budget, which have been brought to members for a vote in the past, may need to be considered in the context of this bill.
Our provincial affiliate, the Confederation of Alberta Faculty Associations (CAFA), held an extended discussion of whether affiliation dues are core or non-core. This is another grey area and remains to be put to a legal test. In the light of this discussion, it is AUFA’s view that belonging to a provincial labour organization is a normal, core function of a union. The same applies to our affiliation with the Alberta Federation of Labour (AFL) and the Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT). The AUFA executive will keep an eye on the legal situation should this determination need to shift in the future.
Analysis
Bill 32 is a piece of overly complicated, unworkable legislation that attacks unions and even employers. The work required to split out non-core dues is excessively complex, and the practice of allowing unlimited labour board challenges concerning specific ways that various unions spend money could create a catastrophic number of hearings. This will in turn mean that important matters such as designation appeals or unfair labour practices will be even further delayed. In addition to the problems with the dues election portion of the bill, there are multiple other issues relating to union activity and labour rights in Alberta discussed in the linked articles below.
The bill also provides the current government with a way to undercut support for its political opponents. AUFA neither donates money to nor directly supports any political party. Nonetheless, we are caught in the crossfire of these political games. The bill is also hostile to basic democratic practice and majority rule. None of us are given the option of paying lower taxes or defunding “non-core” activities of our government. It might be pleasant to imagine being able to choose where our individual taxes go, but it would create a bureaucratic nightmare and prevent anyone in power from governing effectively.
Bill 32 is now subject to multiple legal challenges by unions across the province that are likely to take a long time to work out. The outcome of the next election may affect this bill as well. In other words, Bill 32’s future is unclear. What happens in the wake of a successful dues challenge is equally unclear. AUFA has therefore adopted a wait-and-see approach, and we will make adjustments accordingly as new information presents itself. Questions or concerns about AUFA’s determination are welcomed at president@aufa.ca.
Further Reading
AUFA’s own Jason Foster, who is also director of the Parkland Institute, has written extensively on Bill 32. Links to his analyses are provided below, along with links to Bill 32 and the accompanying regulations.
· Bill 32 Regulations Continue Attack on Unions in Canada
· Bill 32 Regulations Further Tip the Balance in Favour of Corporations