MONTREAL — In yet another frontal assault on Canadian workers’ right to strike, the Liberal government of Prime Minister Mark Carney introduced in Parliament a 243-page Building Canada Strong Act on Sept. 21. Designated Bill C-39, the law would change labor and environmental rules in ways Carney claims Ottawa needs to strengthen its hand in the ongoing trade war with the U.S. rulers.
The bill would amend Section 107 of the Canada Labour Code to expand the circumstances under which a labor minister can unilaterally force an end to a strike or lockout. As it is, Section 107 has been repeatedly used by the government to order workers under federal jurisdiction to end their strikes. Roughly 10% of Canadian workers are in federally regulated sectors, including rail and other interprovincial transportation, and on the docks.
Over the last year, Ottawa used Section 107 to order tens of thousands of longshore, rail, postal and airline workers to end strike action. But the decision by 10,000 Air Canada flight attendants, members of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, to defy a back-to-work order against them in August last year, a decision backed by the entire labor movement, set a powerful example the bosses’ government is seeking to reverse. Unions have called for the repeal of all of Section 107.
With passage of Bill C-39, the labor minister would have the power to end any strike they deem significantly disrupts the Canadian economy, causes significant social disruption or impacts freedom of association. Already, Section 107 gives labor ministers the power to extend existing contracts or impose binding arbitration.
Business groups quickly spoke out in favor of the proposed changes. Pascal Chan, vice president of strategic policy and supply chains at the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, hailed the bill’s creation of new “dispute resolution tools” for labor disputes, as well as the preservation of government powers to shut down strikes or lockouts, saying the bill helps create certainty for the capitalists’ investment projects.
Say no to attack on right to strike
In a statement issued Sept. 25, the Canadian Labour Congress called on Parliament to remove Bill C-39’s new restrictions on the right to strike.
“When large corporations are cheering new government powers to shut down legal strikes, workers should be alarmed. The right to strike only means something if workers can use it when it matters,” said Bea Bruske, president of the Canadian Labour Congress. “If employers believe government will step in when the pressure is on, they have less reason to compromise. A right you cannot exercise is not a right.”
On Sept. 23 the National Executive Board of Canada’s largest union, the Canadian Union of Public Employees, announced that it had unanimously voted to defy Bill C-39’s restrictions on the right to strike if the legislation passes as written.
The day before the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, whose more than 7,000 members move more than 500 billion Canadian dollars’ worth ($350 billion) of goods through Canada’s West Coast ports yearly, condemned the tightening of Section 107 “which effectively legislates away ILWU members’ right to strike.” It’s an “attack on our members’ fundamental rights,” the union said.
The ILWU also denounced the government’s attack on “longshore workers’ freedom of association by letting employers ask the Canada Industrial Relations Board to redraw bargaining units established by our members.”
Joe Young, Communist League candidate in the Oct. 5 Quebec National Assembly elections in the St. Laurent electoral district here, said he opposes the proposed changes to Section 107, which is “already a weapon used against workers in their struggle for better wages and working condition, including safety on the job.”
Young recently joined the picket line with 1,200 Steelworkers on strike at National Steel Car in Hamilton, Ontario, pledging to build solidarity for their fight. For more than six weeks they’ve been battling for better pay and against unsafe working conditions. Seven workers there have been killed on the job since the 1970s.
“Hard-fought struggles like this one show the importance of workers having the right to strike, to use our collective power to defend our interests,” he tells workers as he campaigns. “These fights also indicate the pressing need for the labor movement to join in building solidarity with all workers in conflict with the bosses — be it a strike or a lockout.”