Canada’s largest labour group is urging Parliament to scrap a contentious clause in the Canada Labour Code, arguing it gives Labour Minister Patty Hajdu sweeping power to shut down legal strikes with little more than an email. Blacklock's Reporter says the Canadian Labour Congress filed a Commons petition claiming Ottawa has used the rule to quash eight lawful job actions in just 15 months.The petition, submitted by Congress president Bea Bruske and sponsored by NDP MP Leah Gazan, warned that workers facing soaring costs for housing, groceries and transportation are being undermined by a government that should be backing fair bargaining, not curbing it. Bruske called for repeal of Section 107, a provision that lets the minister take any steps she sees as necessary to “maintain or secure industrial peace.”The petition said Liberal ministers have used the clause to yank away the right to strike by ordering the Canada Industrial Relations Board to take whatever action the government “deems necessary.” It accused Hajdu and her predecessors of treating Section 107 as a shortcut to halt job action without the scrutiny that comes with back-to-work legislation..Bruske repeated those concerns in November 4 Senate testimony, where she said cabinet’s use of the clause to shut down strikes and force binding arbitration was unprecedented. “We have been alarmed at the growing readiness of the federal government to intervene in labour relations, to terminate collective bargaining, to end legal strikes and to even outlaw legal strikes before they begin,” she told senators.She said Ottawa’s pattern of intervention “poisons collective bargaining” by prompting employers to count on government to bail them out. Labour lawyers have taken the fight to Federal Court, challenging the constitutionality of cabinet’s orders.Bruske argued Section 107 was meant for rare, extraordinary situations but has become an easy replacement for back-to-work bills that require debate, justification and a vote. “This is a much more politically expedient way for the government to get workers to come back to work,” she said.Hajdu last invoked the clause on August 16 to block a strike by Air Canada flight attendants, saying simply: “Strikes are very disruptive.”
