Bill 71 explained in plain English
Defending Employees' Rights Act, 2010
Ontario legislature bill summary, status, timeline, sponsor, votes, and official sources.
At a glance
Official Legislative Assembly of Ontario snapshot for 39th Parliament, 2nd Session. Representative vote breakdowns appear when the Assembly publishes an Ayes and Nays page for the bill.
Our plain-language take, written for civic education.
Source: By PoliticalData.ca
The Defending Employees' Rights Act, 2010 amends the Labour Relations Act, 1995 to increase member rights and union financial transparency.
This bill, called the Defending Employees' Rights Act, 2010, amends the Labour Relations Act, 1995. It aims to give more rights to union members and requires unions to share more financial information. Key changes include requiring a representation vote before a union can be certified, limiting what portion of union dues can be collected, and making unions file and publish financial statements.
- Amends the Labour Relations Act, 1995.
- Requires that a representation vote be held before a trade union can be certified as a bargaining agent for employees in a bargaining unit.
- Limits the amount of regular union dues that can be deducted from an employee's wages to only that portion related to collective bargaining, unless the employee specifically authorizes in writing the deduction of amounts for other purposes.
- Requires trade unions that are party to a collective agreement to file a yearly statement with the Minister detailing dues collected and expenses incurred, including a breakdown of expenses of $5,000 or more.
- Requires the Minister to publish the union's financial statement on the Ministry's website.
- Requires trade unions to provide a copy of their financial statement to any member upon request.
- Amends provisions related to representation votes and the duties of the Ontario Labour Relations Board.
- Makes conforming amendments to various sections of the Labour Relations Act, 1995, including those related to the definition of 'regular union dues' and the powers of the Minister and the Board.
- Trade unions in Ontario.
- Employees who are members of trade unions in Ontario.
- Employers in Ontario.
- The Minister of Labour.
- The Ontario Labour Relations Board.
- Employees have the right to a representation vote before a union is certified.
- Employees have the right to authorize in writing the deduction of union dues for purposes other than collective bargaining.
- Trade unions are obligated to file yearly financial statements with the Minister.
- Trade unions are obligated to provide financial statements to members upon request.
- Trade unions have a duty to disclose specific financial information about their expenses.
- This Act comes into force on the day it receives Royal Assent.
- Union dues deductions are limited to collective bargaining costs unless authorized otherwise.
- Trade unions must disclose expenses of $5,000 or more.
- Trade unions must file yearly financial statements, including total dues and expenses.
- The bill does not specify penalties for non-compliance. It details changes to the powers and duties of the Ontario Labour Relations Board and the Minister.
- The bill does not specify what happens if a union fails to comply with the new financial disclosure requirements.
- The specific 'other matters prescribed by the regulations' that can be included in regular union dues are not detailed in the bill.
- The bill does not detail the specific information prescribed by regulations for the breakdown of expenses greater than or equal to $5,000.
This bill makes significant changes to the Labour Relations Act, 1995, primarily to increase employee rights and union financial transparency.
Source: Title Page, Explanatory Note, Section 1-5
Changes are made to this subsection, specifically by adding 'or' at the end of clause (a) and removing clause (c).
Source: Section 1 (1)
This subsection is amended by removing the phrase 'or subsection 10 (2)'.
Source: Section 1 (2)
Clause (a) of this definition is repealed and replaced to specify that 'regular union dues' include amounts for collective bargaining, certain benefits for members, exercise of union powers under the Act, and other prescribed matters, but exclude amounts for other purposes like political donations unless specifically authorized in writing by the employee. This section also gives the Minister the power to prescribe matters for this definition.
Source: Section 2, Section 4 (l.4)
This section is amended by adding clauses that give the Lieutenant Governor in Council the power to prescribe matters related to the definition of 'regular union dues' and specific information for financial statements.
Source: Section 4
Various subsections of this section, primarily related to representation votes and the powers of the Ontario Labour Relations Board, are amended or repealed and substituted to align with the bill's new requirements for mandatory representation votes.
Source: Section 5
Generated using AI from official bill text. Not legal advice. It is written by PoliticalData.ca for civic education, automatically checked and spot-reviewed before publishing.
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Vote Summary
This bill does not have a published recorded division in the current official sources, so representative-by-representative vote counts are not shown.
No published representative vote breakdown
The current official sources do not publish a recorded division breakdown for this bill, so there is no representative-by-representative table to show.
Official sources
Status, sponsor, votes, and timeline on this page are drawn from these official legislative sources and public records. Each summary above is attributed to its own source.
How this data is sourced