Unions and labour organizations across the country blasted the federal government’s new legislation overhauling labour law, saying it will make strikes in federally regulated sectors all but impossible.
In a written statement after the Building Canada Strong Act was tabled Monday in the House of Commons, the Canadian Union of Public Employees said the act undermines the right to strike for federally-regulated workers, including in the railway, airline, ports and banking sectors.
“When companies know the government will bail them out, they have no incentive to do the hard work at the bargaining table to get a deal done,” said CUPE secretary treasurer Candace Rennick. “This bill gives airlines, shipping companies and other major corporations all the advantages over workers.”
CUPE national president Mark Hancock warned that “gutting hard-won rights and protections for Canada’s workers” will introduce volatility at a time the country can least afford it.
“Let’s be clear: we will not win this trade war or make Canada stronger by stripping away the Charter rights of our own people.”
The head of the union representing B.C. dock workers said the bill gives the federal labour minister such broad powers that it makes a legal strike by his members effectively impossible.
“The bill would grant the minister the authority to order workers back to work by ‘forming an opinion’ that a stoppage affects ‘the national interest,’ said Tom Doran, president of the Canadian section of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union. “The first factor the bill lists is significant impact on the Canadian economy. Every port dispute in this country affects the economy; as such, writing this test into law effectively legislates away ILWU members’ right to strike.”
The act includes changes to the Canada Labour Code, which say the federal labour minister can order binding arbitration if a strike or lockout has the potential to harm the national interest, under Section 107 of the code.
While the minister already had that power under Section 107, the new act makes it more clear that it could be used pre-emptively, argued the head of the Canadian Labour Congress.
“There’s a real potential for those workers that they’ll have the right to strike, but they won’t ever be able to exercise it,” said CLC president Bea Bruske, who predicted that the act will backfire on the federal government by leading to more labour disruption such as the August 2025 strike by Air Canada flight attendants.
“I think the Air Canada flight attendants were round one of what we’re going to see. Workers are going to be so frustrated by this. We’re definitely going to see an increase in wildcat strikes and work slowdowns,” said Bruske.
Last summer, Air Canada flight attendants represented by CUPE ignored a federal back-to-work order and a directive from the Canada Industrial Relations Board, before returning to the bargaining table.
While the act officially preserves the right to strike, it removes much of the leverage federally regulated workers gain from walking the picket lines, said McMaster University labour studies professor Stephanie Ross. The act, agreed Ross, seems designed to avert things like the flight attendants’ strike or the walkout by workers at the Port of Vancouver.
“Will airline workers or port workers ever be able to go on strike again? Those industries, when you interrupt them, they have a significant impact. That’s the whole point,” said Ross. “Workers can’t have any leverage in collective bargaining if they don’t have the impact. This is deeply concerning.”
The act gives the minister of labour — and the government — broad powers to block strikes if they see fit, said Brock University labour studies professor Larry Savage.
“This bill neuters the right to strike,” said Savage. “A right that’s suspended when it becomes effective isn’t much of a right at all. It can effectively extinguish the right to strike.”
Savage said that employers will assume they can ignore pressure to bargain merely by citing potential financial harm.
“In practice what this will mean is that the minister will face incredible pressure to use this power far more frequently. Employers will draw the conclusion that holding out long enough and citing financial disruption will mean that they don’t have to give up as much at the table,” said Savage, who estimated that roughly one in 10 Canadian workers are in sectors covered by federal labour law. The rest are covered under provincial or territorial law.
