OTTAWA—Opposition MPs are accusing the Conservative government of attempting to fast-track a bill that they argue would dramatically change union organization in Canada.

The human resources committee has set aside just two days to study Bill C-525, a private member’s bill that requires a mandatory vote in workplaces seeking to unionize.

According to NDP MP Jinny Sims, one of the committee’s two vice-chairs, that leaves less than three hours to hear expert testimony on a bill she considers a “major overhaul” of labour rights.

“It’s such a sham. . . . I just haven’t seen this kind of railroading of an issue as this,” Sims said Wednesday.

“(The Conservatives) have a majority, and they’re not allowing the committee to do the work that committees are charged with doing, to ensure different voices are heard and we end up with legislation that makes sense.”

The bill requires a secret ballot vote at any workplace seeking to unionize or to decertify their union, a practice currently in place in five provinces. That prohibits the “card check” system, with the union requiring a simple majority of workers to sign a union card.

Critics of the “card check” system suggest the process allows union organizers to intimidate workers to join, while critics of the mandatory vote scheme suggest delaying a vote allows for unfair labour practices from management.

Sims is pushing for an additional five meetings on the bill, introduced by Wetaskiwin Conservative MP Blaine Calkins. For his part, Calkins said that’s up to the committee, and downplayed the bill’s effects.

“It’s not a complicated issue, it’s just taking something optional and suggesting it should be mandatory,” Calkins said Wednesday.

“There might be wide-ranging opinions on other types of issues, but I think people are either going to agree that there should be a mandatory secret ballot vote, and we should have a democratic process in the creation of a union before union dues are collected, or people will disagree. . . . I think people’s minds are probably pretty much made up on that issue.”

Liberal MP Rodger Cuzner urged caution in rushing through amendments to the labour code, saying the current system encourages balance between labour and management.

“You’ll get it both sides, from labour and from business, that we shouldn’t be one-offing (the labour code), that it tips the field for one over the other,” Cuzner said.

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“There’s enough study out there that (the secret ballot) tips the advantage away from the workers, and it tips away from that business going forward with certification.”

The committee will consider Bill C-525 on Feb. 11 and 13.