Manitoba looking to join B.C., Quebec with proposed provincial anti-scab labour bill
Manitoba government made moves Monday to introduce new labour bills that would ban replacement workers during union strikes and restore card check certification. However, the legislation proposed by the NDP was stalled by Opposition Progressive Conservative member tactics.
If passed, the laws will make Manitoba the third province in Canada to introduce “anti-scab” legislation, joining B.C. and Quebec which have had such laws for 30 and 45 years, respectively.
“It’s a great day for workers in Manitoba. Premier Kinew's commitment to workers is evident in the enactment of vital legislation to support them. I applaud Premier Kinew’s efforts to restore the streamlining of unionization and workplace democracy and his focus on promoting fairness at the bargaining table,” said Bea Bruske, CLC president in a statement.
“Workers everywhere should be able to exercise their right to strike without worrying about the threat of scab labour. I encourage political leaders across Canada to follow Premier Kinew's lead and ban the use of scab labour in their jurisdictions.”
The anticipated move comes as controversy heats up over the federal “anti-scab” Bill C-58 that just passed its second reading in the legislature; on March 14, for example, the CLC sent a message to “all levels of government” urging anti-scab legislation to be passed immediately.
Anti-scab legislation ‘balances’ collective bargaining
While Bill C-58 will only apply to federally regulated private sector employees, federal mandates tend to influence provincial governments to follow suit, as in the case of Manitoba’s newly proposed laws, said Adam Donald King, assistant professor of labour studies at the University of Manitoba.
“Anti-scab legislation has been a priority for the Manitoba labour movement for decades. Today's legislation is a first step toward instituting a full ban on employers' use of replacement workers,” he said.
“When in force, the law will restore balance to collective bargaining by preventing employers from undermining workers' democratic right to strike.”
In Canada union members can strike only at certain times, such as after a collective agreement expires or if bargaining has reached a stalemate. Also, in most jurisdictions, unions are required to provide employers with a strike notice.
“There's a lot of hoops to jump through before you can strike. In most other countries, that's not the case,” said King.
“Canadian unions gave up most of their rights to strike in order to get a system that's relatively regulated and predictable. Under those circumstances, when employers can just turn around and replace [union workers]… it really creates a lack of balance and fairness in that system. This introduction of anti-scab really puts a semblance of balance back into it, by recognizing that unions have a very restricted right to strike.”
Employer issues addressed by anti-scab legislation
Many opposing views exist as to whether anti-scab legislation in Canada reduces the occurrence of strikes or whether it is good or bad for the economy; however, there are concrete benefits for employers that will result from Bill C-58 being passed, said King.
“Often the decision to use replacement workers is made at a higher level than HR or frontline managers or supervisors, and they're the ones usually that have to deal with the lasting consequences after there's a return-to-work. And those tensions linger on,” he said.
“The most important thing is that it rebalances labour relations by encouraging employers to bargain and not undermine strikes through replacement workers.”
There is also a health and safety concern around replacement workers, King said, as often they are brought in without the same level of training or experience: “It puts them at risk.”
Bill C-58 ‘good news’ for Canadian employers
Although a federal bill that prohibits replacement workers may signal a shift in power towards organized labour, the law will be good news for front line management and HR, said Mark Thompson, professor emeritus of organizational behaviour and human resources at the University of British Columbia.
“The theory of having this legislation is you prevent the problems on the picket line, and you prevent the kind of conflict in the workplace that would exist after the strike ends,” he said.
Recently, alleged violent behaviour on the picket line of striking municipal workers in Black River-Matheson, Ont. prompted the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) to file for a judicial review of the township with the Superior Court of Justice.
Allegedly, replacement workers in a pickup truck hit striking workers while driving through the picket line on Fe. 14, 2024. The next day, the 14 striking employees were given trespass notices from the township, banning them and other CUPE members from three municipal properties.
“When people are giving up their livelihood, strikers, to have people crossing the picket line who are making their salaries and probably a bonus on top of that, that's very bad, very bad for morale,” said Thompson.
Bill C-58 and other provincial laws like it are designed to eliminate situations such as these, which would have the knock-on effect of reducing damage control for HR and other managers.
“If I were an HR manager in a unionized environment, I would think that'll make my life more pleasant,” said Thompson. “It may be more difficult during the strikes to continue to operate, but you're not going to have to face the resentment and discord in your workforce when the strike is over. That's the last thing you want. When the strike is over, you want everybody to shake hands and go back to work and be productive. If you've had strike-breakers, it's much harder to accomplish.”
How impactful will Bill C-58 be?
The anti-scab law will only apply to federally regulated industries such as rail workers, airlines, banking and telecommunication. About one-third of those workers are unionized – around 350,000 workers. The bill does not apply to federal public service workers.
Although the legislation only applies to a relatively small fraction of employees, the legislation will have a “disproportionate impact” on federal unionized workers, said King.
“Although the federal jurisdiction is small in terms of the share of the workforce, this is significant legislation for a couple of reasons,” he said. “The first is that replacement workers are used at a far higher rate in the federal jurisdiction and in most provinces. The government's own data shows that 42% of work stoppages involve the use of replacement workers in the federal jurisdiction.”
“The second is that the union density in the private sector is higher in the federal jurisdiction than in any province; it's actually substantially higher.”
Union density in the private sector nationally is about 15%, King explained, while 34% of employees in the federal jurisdiction of the private sector are unionized.
“So in terms of the share of workers that are members of unions, and would therefore be covered by the legislation, the federal jurisdiction is extremely important.”
