The Absurdity of Self-Regulated Regulatory Agencies: Maybe the Inmates Shouldn’t Run the Jail

Their rejection rate for complaints is so high you'd think the complaint box empties directly into recycling - they can't even use an electronic drop box so they can auto delete complaints.

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Ontario politicians, enjoying their political contributions from the unions and their buddies at the LSO, are fully sold on the wonder of self-regulating agency sanctimony, where the foxes don’t just guard the henhouse—they own the deed, draw the blueprints, and feast on the chickens while crowing about their impeccable oversight.

Welcome to the Kafkaesque carnival of the Labour Board and the Law Society of Ontario (LSO). The twin pillars of a justice system so diabolically circular it would make a medieval alchemist blush.

Here, we have two bodies tasked with holding unions and lawyers accountable, yet they operate with the transparency of a Masonic lodge and the efficacy of a chocolate teapot.

The absurdity of self-regulation isn’t just a flaw; it’s the punchline to a cosmic joke and the laughs on us—union members and clients alike.

Take the Ontario Labour Relations Board, a convoluted bureaucratic labyrinth that could double as a Minotaur’s summer home.

File a Duty of Fair Representation (DFR) complaint against your union—say, CUPE or OPSEU, those bastions of worker rights turned political juggernauts, where they can be incompetent, literally it says that, and they can spend your money on the World Jew Hating and Socialism Loving Society and you aren’t allowed to even know.

My union OPSEU 562, though being my legal representative, of which I have no choice, send me an email saying they are no longer representing me. I will be asking for my dues back. I will not get them.

Of course their position is a violation, but what can I do? Go to the Labour Board where they reject over 99% of member complaints? Their admission in writing that they would no longer represent me doesn’t change anything on the ground. In 17 months they have filed no grievances, chased no lost pay, not advocated for me, their note only is an admission of their position. They didn’t understand what intellectual property meant, they didn’t know how to open a zip file. They are the dullest butter knife in the knife drawer.

But I can’t make them do anything and pushing too hard only raises my blood pressure. It is a broke system, set up to defend unions and gaslight members into making them think they are being represented when they are not. The relationship between the Labour Board and the unions is like that between a corrupt police force that take bribes to let criminals off and the criminals. None of them do any productive work, they have a closed system, they live off the sweat of honest workers, and they look out for each other.