Labour leaders from the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) and the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) spoke out in support of Bill C-247 on Tuesday. The Private Member’s bill was tabled Monday by NDP MP Leah Gazan and calls for section 107 to be repealed from the Canada Labour Code.The bill has gone through its first reading in the House of Commons.
The full text of section 107 says that the federal minister responsible for labour may “do such things as to the Minister seem likely to maintain or secure industrial peace and to promote conditions favourable to the settlement of industrial disputes or differences and to those ends the Minister may refer any question to the Board or direct the Board to do such things as the Minister deems necessary.”
Since June 2024, section 107 has been invoked eight times to interfere with bargaining or end strikes, including those by postal workers, flight attendants and railway workers.
“When big corporations complain, the government caves,” Gazan said while tabling the bill on Monday. “This is a direct violation of workers’ rights, the right to strike and the right to free collective bargaining. These rights were won through generations of struggle and sacrifice, yet government after government violates the rights of workers whenever it is politically convenient.”
Bea Bruske, president of the CLC, thanked Gazan and the NDP for standing up for workers rights. She said the CLC, Canada’s largest labour organization, will fight alongside the NDP to ensure the bill becomes law.
“No government should ever be able to strip workers of their right to free and fair collective bargaining,” Bruske said. “Together, we will keep the pressure on this government, mobilize workers across the country, and ensure that Canada’s labour laws protect workers, not undermine them.”
Mark Hancock, president of Canada’s largest public sector labour union CUPE, also spoke out in support of the new bill. This past summer, flight attendants represented by CUPE saw section 207 invoked just hours after they began strike action.
Flight attendants were fighting the requirement of unpaid work hours and stagnant wages. Despite an order to return to work, members of CUPE decided to stay on the picket line.
READ MORE: Flight attendants defy back to work order; ‘if our union is fined, so be it’
Section 107 states that the minister’s actions under it must be likely to maintain industrial peace. However, CUPE and Air Canada still have not reached a deal. It has been just under two months since the strike.
“Collective bargaining works – but only when it’s allowed to work. It’s hard to calculate the damage that’s already been done by this Liberal government repeatedly stepping in to take away the only leverage workers have at the bargaining table,” Hancock said. “It’s bad for workers’ livelihoods, and it’s bad for the constitutional rights of all Canadians.”
Another group of workers affected by section 107 are the postal workers. During their strike in November 2024, they were ordered back to work by then Labour Minister Steve MacKinnon. Almost one year later, Canada Post and the postal workers union still haven’t reached a deal. The Canadian Union of Postal Workers began another strike in September after the government announced sweeping changes to the crown corporation’s delivery model.
“The government needs to stop punishing workers for exercising their Charter right to strike for fair wages and safe working conditions,” Gazan said. “Through Section 107, the Liberals have repeatedly forced workers back to work without so much as a debate or vote in Parliament. This anti-democratic measure goes even further than Harper’s anti-worker policies.”
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