The IBEW and other unions in Alberta are bracing for the implementation of Bill 32, which was passed by the United Conservative Party-dominated provincial assembly last year.

The measure was framed by Premier Jason Kenney as a way to protect business and aid a struggling economy. Critics saw it as a poorly-disguised attack on workers' rights to join a union and the protection it provides, especially after the gains labour made in Alberta in recent years. The law imposes onerous new financial reporting requirements for unions and could potentially limit how much money unions can even donate to charitable organizations.

IBEW leaders in Alberta say they will have a better idea of Bill 32's impact after it is proclaimed and Labour Minister Jason Copping releases guidelines on following the law. But unions are likely to be hit hard.

"It's patterned after some of the right-to-work laws in the U.S.," Calgary Local 254 Business Manager John Briegel said. "We're kind of calling it right-to-work lite."

Bill 32 includes:

• Limits on where unions can picket during strikes or lockouts, including a prohibition of picketing a secondary work site without permission from the province's Labour Relations Board.
• A prohibition on blocking or delaying someone from crossing a picket line.
• An "opt-in" provision, where members would have to regularly give their local union permission to deduct the portion of his or her membership fees going to political activities in retaliation for unions supporting parties and politicians that stand up for workers.

Unions also would be required to prepare more detailed financial statements, ostensibly for members' benefit, even though members already have access to their local union's budget and expenditures. Advocates for working families view it as a move to burden unions with excessive costs in an attempt to make them less effective.

"The next possible bill the UCP would pass is requiring union members to opt in on paying union dues all together," Edmonton Local 424 assistant business manager Scott Crichton said.

That is common in the 27 U.S. states that have right-to-work laws but something that would be a major shift in Canada, even under its most conservative governments. Unions' right to organize and operate freely has been upheld by courts throughout the country under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

"Even with the bill's passage, we will continue to educate assembly members on the important work IBEW members do," First District International Vice President Thomas Reid said. "Whether it's in utility, construction or railroad, IBEW brothers and sisters provide vital services to everyone living in Alberta. Damaging the movement that ensures those members receive good wages and safe working conditions is a travesty, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic."

"For this attack on union workers to be coming during the COVID-19 pandemic is especially tough to swallow," said Edmonton Local 1007 Business Manager Steve Southwood.

"This current government does not understand the good unions do in our communities or understand the impact a collective bargaining agreement has on fair treatment of workers or a family's ability to make ends meet, or the complicated and skilled work they do for the good of all Edmontonians and Albertans," Southwood said.

The bill could also allow the provincial government to determine what is charitable and what is political, Crichton said, having a chilling effect on the good works unions do in their communities.

"During the pandemic, as the number of unemployed people increased, Albertans have turned to these organizations for help," Crichton said. "This legislation ties our hands and restricts our ability to donate to these charitable causes."

Alberta has traditionally been one of the most hostile provinces toward labour and working families but there were signs of hope in recent years.

The New Democratic Party won a majority in the 2015 provincial elections, ending 34 years of control by the Progressive Conservatives. The worker-friendly NDP instituted a number of reforms but was voted out of power in 2019.

Briegel said he expected some pushback against those gains after the 2019 election but Bill 32 went further than anyone expected. The Alberta Federation of Labour, of which the IBEW is a member, has already said it will challenge the bill in court after it is proclaimed.

Until that proclamation, it's hard to tell exactly what the impact might be, Briegel said.

"This is a pretty frank case of the devil being in the details," he said.