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    Unions warn Carney government is considering sweeping changes to labour law — including the right to strike
    Canada

    Unions warn Carney government is considering sweeping changes to labour law — including the right to strike

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    1. neanderthalman on

      See, the neat thing about striking is that, no matter what a government says is legal, you can still do it. So long as slavery is illegal, they cannot stop it.

      Any tactics to deter striking are empty threats. Intimidation, and nothing more. It just takes strength and bravery, and most importantly unity to overcome that intimidation.

      If they made striking illegal today. Right now. And then you say “I’m not going to work until you make it legal again”. They can’t stop you.

      You could be fired. Sure. If they were so draconian as to make it a criminal offence, then jail you. Just imagine that as a hypothetical worst-case. But they can only do this if you do it alone. But if the entire workforce for a company, or the country, or just enough of them stays home, they can’t fire or jail them all. That’s why unity is important.

      And if they go after leaders or issue fines or X or Y or Z, fine. Now the agreement go to back to work has to also include to free the leaders or waive the fines or roll back X or Y or Z, on top of the workers demands.

    2. Classic_Check_5568 on

      Carney thinks collective bargaining rights are not necessary, and that we can trust corporations and their executives to act in the interest of the public good.

    3. MightyHydrar on

      Some of it sounds positive, some may be problematic. 

      However, the “end the right to strike” thing is a bit alarmist. It’s about possibly some limits in some sectors, not a total cut-off or anything. 

      Also this is so far a looking-for-input thing, not actually proposed legislation. So let’s maybe all keep our cool until there’s a better idea of what is actually planned

    4. darrylgorn on

      We’ll see.

      I think that unions are certainly on the up and up here and definitely support them and workers’ rights.

      Having said that, I’m still of the viewpoint that this government is cognizant of the constituents that are keeping them in power.

      They know how fragile this power is, especially when they see parallel power relationships in a spot like the UK and how Starmer dropped the bag there.

      Most of the fear about this government breaking down unions or privatizating industry is pretty speculative and while the fear is not without some merit, it’s essentially meaningless until the Liberals make a move.

    5. TopazJazzrazz on

      Provided that Carney does go all out against labour, he’ll have provided the easiest path possible to a second NDP orange wave. Carney can’t be that stupid right?

      All for a second orange wave though. So I guess make my day.

    6. BG-Inf on

      “I cannot stress enough how much the alarm bells should be going off right now for Canadian workers,” .. the big question then being, if government is seeking to remove a right to strike and alter the labour code, what are they planning on doing that would necessitate a strike action from workers?

    7. Silver_Flow_2291 on

      ” Jobs minister says Canada Labour Code hasn’t ‘kept up with the times’ ”

      That’s not the only body of law that’s outdated. In other areas, the law asks for the impossible.