Collectively bargained solutions often involve change. Change works best when both sides agree to the future direction. That is the reason why collective bargaining is so appropriate to organizations undergoing change. An imposed change can be resisted and undermined in subtle but corrosive ways by those who feel that change was imposed without their consent. Our legislative framework therefore favours free collective bargaining and makes little attempt, except in exceptional cases, to impose solutions upon the parties.
Diversity also places limits upon what legislation can achieve.
The Canada Labour Code must be broad enough to govern the labour relations of a variety of sectors, from four employees in a radio station in the North, to tens of thousands of railway workers spanning the whole country, to bank employees in a large city. Besides practical factors, there is a sound policy reason for favouring free collective bargaining within the legislated framework. Canadians prefer parties to take responsibility for their own actions, whether as employees making choices through their unions or as owners making choices for their own enterprises. The choices they make also affect the prosperity and social well-being of the greater community. Canadians rightfully expect employers and employees through their unions to take responsibility for those community impacts.