Last week, the GNWT issued a news release about changes to the Public Service Act that they plan to introduce later this year.

The Public Service Act is the legislation that governs public service workers in the NWT. It provides the basic protections and terms of employment for teachers and all GNWT and NWT Power Corporation workers and sets out which positions are unionized, and which are excluded from collective bargaining.

Unionized workers who are members of a public service bargaining unit gain additional protections and benefits through negotiating collective agreements.

The Public Service Act only applies to public service workers. It鈥檚 not to be confused with the NWT鈥檚 Employment Standards Act, which covers other workers in the NWT, but not public service workers.

Changes to the Public Service Act affect the NWT鈥檚 largest workforce, and it鈥檚 very important that any proposed changes to this act undergo a thorough process of research, analysis, and consultation.

Changes to any legislation need to be considered from several angles. For example: how will they positively or negatively impact different groups of people? How will they compliment or conflict with other pieces of legislation? How will they be implemented, etc.

Doing your due diligence as a legislator means asking these questions first and crafting your legislation around what you learn. Good decisions are based on evidence, legal precedent, and best practices.

When it comes to labour law, the Union of 黑料吃瓜网 Workers has a depth of collective experience to draw upon, particularly through the Public Service Alliance of Canada, our sister organization. Unions have staff dedicated to researching case law, reviewing what different jurisdictions and unions are doing, and providing legal opinions on how policy and legislation will affect workers鈥� rights.

Unions in Canada have an extensive background and legal knowledge in defending workers from anti-union legislation and rollbacks to rights and benefits. When we sound the alarm over a piece of legislation, it鈥檚 often because we鈥檝e seen its like before, and know how it impacted workers in that situation.

As a union, our top priority is protecting the rights of workers, which means carefully examining any proposed legislative changes that could jeopardize the advances union members have made at the bargaining table over several decades.

In any consultations with employers, the union does its due diligence to provide evidence-based suggestions and feedback centred on reinforcing the rights and protection of workers.

The union鈥檚 sole purpose is to act in the best interests of the collective. As with most things, you can鈥檛 make everyone happy all the time, but the UNW takes its obligations seriously and will always fight to ensure that workers are not negatively impacted or left unprotected by decisions from employers or lawmakers.

Consulting partners and stakeholders before changes to laws are brought forward makes legislators aware of major issues before they arise. Doing your homework will show if a concern is widespread or isolated and build more context around the issue at hand.

After receiving feedback, legislators may go back to the drawing board, make amendments, or choose to press on with changes anyway. Either way, a comprehensive engagement process before major changes are introduced can help streamline the public engagement process once it becomes a bill.

Consultation needs to happen throughout the legislative process; especially because the final language of a bill is not usually seen by anyone but the author until it hits the floor of the Legislative Assembly.

The UNW has not yet seen the language for the GNWT鈥檚 proposed 鈥減hase one鈥� changes to the Public Service Act, but we have been providing feedback on topics the GNWT鈥檚 proposed amendments will address, as well as changes the union would like included.

The changes that the GNWT is proposing to make to the Public Service Act have been a long time coming and are the result of many years of discussion between the government and the union about supporting and strengthening our public service.

Now that this legislation is finally advancing, we are very interested to see what the government brings forward and how they鈥檝e incorporated those discussions.

We don鈥檛 want to see anything interfere with the process or working relationship after all these years of work due to personal politics.

The UNW looks forward to continuing conversations and growing a cooperative relationship as the GNWT moves into phase two of its plans for modernizing the Public Service Act. The topics they propose to address in this phase will require extensive research and consultation with Labour.

Quick decisions may be attractive to those who are frustrated with the status quo and want to see change happen immediately. But without taking the time to carefully consider all the angles, aspects, and consequences of a decision, we risk burdening ourselves with more problems that don鈥檛 have quick or easy solutions.

The UNW is always supportive of meaningfully working together on improving legislation to ensure workers feel supported and empowered.