NDP Parliamentary Leader Don Davies introduces bill to close anti-scab loophole « Canada’s NDP
OTTAWA — NDP Parliamentary Leader Don Davies today introduced legislation to close a loophole in the Canada Labour Code that allows employers to use outside managers as replacement workers during strikes and lockouts.
He was joined by NDP Leader Avi Lewis, Marty Warren, United Steelworkers union (USW) National Director and Michael Phillips, President of USW Local 1944.
“The right to strike is undermined if employers can simply import managers to act as replacement labour,” said Don Davies. “This loophole makes a mockery of Canada’s hard-won anti-scab legislation, and this bill will ensure it’s closed once and for all.”
The legislation responds to a recent Rogers Communications strike in Abbotsford, B.C., where technicians were on the picket line for more than four months while seeking fair pay.
During the dispute, Rogers deployed managers from other regions to carry out bargaining unit work, despite the NDP’s federal anti-scab law having recently come into force.
“New Democrats forced the government to finally deliver federal anti-scab legislation in the last Parliament, after years of Liberal resistance to calls from workers and their unions, ” said NDP Leader Avi Lewis. “But the government left a loophole in place that Rogers has since exploited to undermine those protections.”
“The right to strike was won through generations of struggle and sacrifice across Canada, and it must be defended,” added Lewis. “Every gain workers have ever achieved, from safer workplaces and weekends to pensions, paid leave, and better wages, was built on the foundation of collective action and the right to withdraw labour.”
While the NDP successfully secured federal anti-scab protections in the previous Parliament through Bill C-58, current law allows the use of managers who do not customarily work at the struck premises to perform bargaining unit work, creating a loophole employers can exploit to undermine the right to strike.
“Workers fought for decades to win federal anti-scab legislation,” said Marty Warren, USW National Director. “If employers can get around the law by bringing in outside managers to do bargaining unit work, then the right to strike is undermined, collective bargaining is weakened, and disputes drag on.”
Davies noted that his bill is designed to ensure the intent of anti-scab legislation is fully respected in practice, not just in principle.
“Every day for four and a half months, striking technicians at Rogers watched as out-of-town managers crossed picket lines and stole their work,” said Phillips, who represents the affected Rogers workers in Abbotsford. “The loophole in the Canada Labour Code that allows this to happen must be closed.”
The bill comes as the Liberal government is considering sweeping changes to Canadian labour law, including restricting the right to strike.
“The NDP will always stand shoulder to shoulder with workers to fight any effort to weaken workers’ rights or roll back hard-won labour protections,” concluded Lewis. “And New Democrats will always stand up for free and fair collective bargaining.”