After nearly 30 years, the Alberta government is considering making changes to the province's labour laws. The Employment Standards Code and Regulation establish the minimum standards for all employment relationships under provincial jurisdiction and apply to the majority of workers in Alberta. This Code provides working Albertans with rights and protections through standards on hours of work, overtime, general holidays, special leaves, vacation and more. The Labour Relations Code is the main piece of legislation that applies to union-management relationships. The government has indicated that this is not a full-scale review, but instead aims to be modest in its approach, focusing on amendments that can be achieved within the current session of the legislature.

 

CFA has been assured that issues like joint-employer are not within scope of this review, but that the Minister of Labour is instead interested in examining topics to improve the Code's fairness, balance and effectiveness; CFA will however remain diligent in ensuring the interests and concerns of the franchise industry as a whole are well represented.

 

Opportunity to Respond to the Consultation:

The consultation is open and is set to close on April 18, 2017. CFA encourages all members to share their thoughts on how to improve workplace rules in Alberta by completing the online survey, available here. To maximize the franchise industry's voice, CFA also encourages Franchisors to forward this email or link to their Alberta based franchisees, encouraging them to complete the survey as well.