CLC warns Labour Code review cannot weaken bargaining rights under guise of reform
OTTAWA –– The Canadian Labour Congress is warning the federal government against using the Canada Labour Code review to weaken collective bargaining and the right to strike under the guise of labour relations reform.
In a submission released today, the CLC says the government is pairing long-overdue worker protections with proposals that would further restrict bargaining and normalize government intervention in labour disputes.
“The government cannot offer workers overdue protections with one hand while taking away bargaining power with the other,” said Bea Bruske, President of the Canadian Labour Congress.
The submission focuses heavily on the federal government’s repeated use of section 107 of the Canada Labour Code to end lawful strikes and lockouts and impose binding arbitration.
Since 2024, the federal government has used section 107 eight times. In the previous four decades, the provision had never been used this way.
According to the CLC, those interventions have changed bargaining in the federal sector by signalling to employers that the government will step in when economic pressure builds.
“The right to strike only matters if employers believe workers are actually allowed to use it,” said Bruske.
The CLC also rejects calls from employer groups for further restrictions on strikes and bargaining timelines.
“It is backwards to blame workers for economic disruption while giving employers a pass for the low wages, unsafe conditions, and failed bargaining that lead to strikes in the first place,” said Bruske.
The submission also calls for stronger protections against wage theft and misclassification, expedited grievance arbitration, successor rights, stronger health and safety protections, and safeguards around AI and workplace surveillance.
The CLC says the consultation process itself was rushed and overly broad, giving stakeholders only weeks to respond to more than 60 questions spanning collective bargaining, AI, labour standards, health and safety, and insolvency law.
Link to the Executive Summary here.
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