Workers rights activists and union leaders across Canada are celebrating a key component of the Liberal-NDP confidence-and-supply agreement announced late last month: anti-scab legislation that is set to be introduced by the end of 2023.
The “anti-scab” legislation would prevent companies and corporations from hiring temporary workers (aka scabs) while regular employees are locked out or on strike.
While the legislation marks a win for workers, it also comes too little too late for many.
In a March 22 statement, Canadian Labour Congress President Bea Bruske said the country’s unions “look forward to working with the Government and New Democrats on executing this progressive policy agenda.”
“Canada’s unions have long fought for parties to work together and move forward on a progressive policy agenda,” Bruske said. “With today’s agreement, Parliament can now move forward on a recovery that puts workers and their families at its heart.”
The announcement comes nearly one year after Canada’s largest union, Unifor, released a 24-page report titled Fairness on the Line: The case for anti-scab legislation in Canada.
“The scab might be the single most polarizing figure in the world of labour relations,” the report begins, before going on to argue. “Strong and fair anti-scab legislation—at both the federal and provincial level—will help lead to shorter labour disputes, safer workplaces, and less acrimonious and conflict-ridden picket lines.”
Unifor’s report also noted that anti-scab legislation only existed in Q.C. and N.B. A federal ban on scab workers would give union members further protections when it comes to contract disputes.
A recent example of a large-scale scab effort took place between October and December 2021, when cereal giant Kellogg’s was the subject of a labor strike affecting nearly 1,400 employees across the United States.
After a tentative agreement fell through in early December, Kellogg’s announced they would replace all striking employees with new scab workers—a move that caused widespread backlash and led to boycotting of the corporation’s products. Kellogg’s quickly reversed course, with a new agreement signed on Dec. 16, ending the strike after 77 days.
Anti-scab legislation would also have profound impacts across the journalism industry in Canada, where many reporters work in non-unionized positions.
Just look at The Chronicle Herald, N.S.’s daily newspaper printed since 1874. On January 23, 2016, 61 members of the Halifax Typographical Union were locked out of the popular paper after a breakdown in negotiations between the Union and the Herald’s executives.
The lock-out lasted 19 months, but the paper never missed an edition thanks to scab writers who held the ship afloat long enough for an agreement to be reached. That agreement would see 26 union staff dismissed and widespread wage cuts for employees returning to work after more than 500 days without a paycheck.
Back-to-work legislation must end: Union leader
For Jan Simpson, the National President of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW), the move is a great first step, one that must be followed by governments ending the use of back-to-work legislation.
“The bargaining power of workers ultimately comes down to our ability to withdraw our labour,” Simpson noted in a statement to rabble.ca.
Simpson pointed out that union strikes are difficult positions for workers to put themselves in, forcing them to miss out on both pay and benefits.
“Using replacement workers, or scabs, undermines the bargaining power of locked out or striking workers because employers don’t have the same incentive to negotiate in good faith,” she said. “The ability to strike without scab replacements is vital to free, fair, good faith collective bargaining.”
Simpson added that while the legislation gives “a much-needed boost to workers’ power,” it also must be enacted quickly. She hopes that provincial governments will follow the federal government’s lead in evening “the playing fields between workers and employers during labour disputes.”
Abandon back-to-work legislation
The next step, Simpson says, is ending the use of back-to-work legislation, an option that allows governments to force workers back on the job, further jeopardizing their bargaining power.
For Elmwood—Transcona MP Daniel Blaikie, ensuring anti-scab legislation as part of the Liberal-NDP agreement represents “bringing the political will to get this across the finish line.”
The NDP finance critic touted the fact that the legislation will cover both walkouts and strikes, giving workers an opportunity to meet at the bargaining table without fear of being replaced on the job.
“Workers should be able to work on terms that they think are fair, and they should be able to withhold their labour when they don’t feel that the employer is dealing with them in good faith in contract negotiations,” Blaikie said. “I think workers should be empowered to make that call themselves and not have their rights undermined.”
While the timeline in the agreement would see legislation tabled by the end of next year, Blaikie says the NDP is “happy to move sooner.”
“[Workers] shouldn’t have to wait for an employer to lock them out in order to have their right to bargain collectively defended by the government and Canadian law,” he added.
The confidence-and-supply deal between the Liberals and the NDP, which runs until 2025, also includes action on 10 paid sick days, pharmacare and a national dental care program.
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