A big change is coming for BC's workplace employee complaints system.
After 18 years, "THE SELF HELP KIT" brought in by the Liberal Government of the day has been tossed out. The Horgan government has added 15-million dollars to the Labour Ministery budget to hire 87 more staff to handle complaints directly. Labour Minister Harry Bains ceremoniously blew up one of the very thick SELF HELP KITS at a Surrey News Conference, Wednesday. He says they were cumbersome, often taking three hours to complete which discouraged employees from complaining about work place safety issues or pay disputes. Bains points out that worker complaints to the Employment Standards Branch dropped from 11-thousand to 6-thousand when the Self Help kits were brought in after 2001.