Alberta’s governing party, the United Conservative Party (UCP), led by Jason Kenney, is attempting to tilt the scales of workplace relations in favor of employers. A central plank of this push is the deceptively titled Restoring Balance in the Workplace Act, or Bill 32.

The UCP’s rationale, as articulated by Labour minister Jason Copping, is that the previous, social-democratic NDP government tipped the balance of power toward organized labor. Of course, labor relations are always slanted in favor of employers under a capitalist system, and Alberta was no exception. But the NDP did carry out some modest reforms, which began the process of bringing Alberta up to speed with the rest of Canada.

These reforms included codifying employees’ right to refuse unsafe work, requiring overtime pay to be at time-and-a-half, making unionization easier through the card check system, and mandating Workplace Compensation Board coverage for farmworkers injured on the job.