The Role of the State in Industrial Relations: A Comment

Sack and Lee (1989) argue that state intervention has become intrusive in Canadian industrial relations. They base their assertions on the increase in back-to-work legislation by provincial and federal governments, the use of wage controls in the public sector in a number of jurisdictions, and statutory criteria imposed on interest arbitrators requiring them to take into account government's ability to pay. They obscure and overlook the positive features of the British Columbia (BC) legislation. The model chosen for dispute resolution in the collective bargaining process has a great deal of merit and clearly does not represent retrenchment in Canadian public policy as Sack and Lee suggest. Indeed, the experience with a similar approach in Ontario suggests that the model chosen in BC may meet some of the very concerns about state intervention articulated by Sack and Lee. Thus, the BC approach to dispute resolution should be examined and evaluated with an open mind.