The president of the Alberta Federation of Labour says Bill C-377 goes above and beyond transparency.

The bill, which passed through the House of Commons, requires unions to provide detailed annual financial filings to the Canada Revenue Agency.

Gil McGowan says Bill C-377 is a way for the Harper government to silence unions.

“For example, under this legislation we’re going to have to give detailed financial information about how much money is in our strike fund,” says McGowan. “This is information that is obviously going to be used against us by employers.”

The Tory member who introduced the bill, backbencher Russ Hiebert, says unions should be subject to the same public reporting as charities.

“I certainly don’t have a problem with sharing financial information with our members, they deserve to know and that’s exactly what we do,” says McGowan. “The Harper government is leaving the impression that we don’t do that and they’re forcing us to a level of disclosure that no other organization in society has to do.”

“We’re going to be filing paperwork upon paperwork in order to be in compliance with this legislation.” (ks)

iNews880AM, Thursday Dec 13 2012
Byline: Kim Smith