Strikes and lockouts: Bill 89 in the sights of unions

Opposition to Bill 89, which aims to allow the government to intervene in labor disputes, will arrive in the National Assembly this week as consultations on the legislation begin. Unions have strongly condemned it, arguing that it constitutes an attack on the right to strike.

The Confédération des syndicats nationaux (CSN) believes the bill will “unjustifiably infringe on employees’ freedom of association” and “destroy the fragile balance of power between the parties, to the advantage of employers.”

With his bill, Labor Minister Jean Boulet says he wants to prevent public services from “being disproportionately affected” during labor disputes.

If the legislation is adopted, the government will be able to determine by decree that a union and an employer have 15 days to establish the minimum services that must be maintained. After this deadline, the Administrative Labour Tribunal (TAT) will decide.

The bill will also empower the Minister of Labour, “if he or she considers that a strike or lockout is causing or threatening to cause serious or irreparable harm to the population,” to appoint an arbitrator who can end it and determine the working conditions of employees.

“Useless”

“By requiring employees to maintain services that ensure the well-being of the population, (the bill) infringes on their constitutionally protected right to strike,” writes the CSN in a brief to be tabled Tuesday in the National Assembly, a copy of which was obtained by The Canadian Press.

The union maintains that the government does not need to legislate and that the tools it needs to resolve a dispute already exist in the Labour Code.

It is calling for the bill to be withdrawn, calling it “useless.”

“Interference”

The complaints of the Centrale des syndicats démocratiques (CSD) echo those of the CSN, which argues that the bill is an “attack” “very clearly directed against the ability of employees organized in a union to conduct an effective strike.”

According to the CSD, the legislation “excessively politicizes the management of labor disputes.”

“We fear excessive government interference in the management of disputes,” the union states in its brief.

The CSD also expresses concern that the “provisions of Bill 89 will result in a erosion of trust at the bargaining table, the prolongation and judicialization of labor disputes, and the loss of employees’ collective ability to improve their working conditions.”

Discontent against the bill has already been felt. A speech by Minister Boulet in Montreal was canceled last week due to disruptions caused by a group of protesters.

When the bill was introduced last month, the Quebec Federation of Labour (FTQ) stated that the government was proposing a “return to the era of the Great Darkness.” The FTQ will be present at Wednesday’s consultations at the National Assembly.

“Restoring a Balance”

For its part, the Employers Council asserts that the government’s bill is necessary to avoid “a disproportionate paralysis in Quebec, jeopardizing economic stability and collective well-being.”

“It is imperative to restore a fundamental balance between resorting to strikes or lockouts and the protection of the population. This imbalance is all the more worrying because it is exacerbated by the lack of effective intervention mechanisms and by evolving case law,” the employers’ organization writes in its brief.

–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews