The organization claims that the bill infringes on workers’ right to strike
The federal government has introduced Bill C-39, the Building Canada Strong Act, in a move met with backlash from private sector union Unifor.
Bill C-39 aims to accelerate project construction by requiring federal reviews and decisions to be finished within a year of a comprehensive application’s submission under “Build Canada Now,” which has been accompanied by the issuance of a Cabinet directive from the federal government. The law aims to clarify and simplify processes for project proponents and Indigenous groups involved in project consultations.
The legislation also seeks to bolster the nation’s trade corridors and ports to accelerate the movement of Canadian goods, improve supply chain resiliency, and unlock new markets under “Keep Canada Moving.” The government aims to set up a transportation project office to coordinate federal permitting and progress priority transportation projects within a year.
The bill will also update port governance, progress novel trade digitalization strategies, and clarify rules drawing private investment and enhancing Canadian ports’ competitiveness. It also updates the federal labour framework and includes amendments to the Canada Labour Code.
The government introduces federal labour protection measures under “Canada Strong For All.” Moreover, it will boost inspection capacity by about 70 percent by recruiting 100 health and safety officers, adding 26 staff to the Canada Industrial Relations Board to address the current complaints backlog, and expanding inspector ranks to tackle worker misclassification.
The government said it engaged with workers, unions, employers, Indigenous Peoples, provinces and territories, industry, and other partners across the nation.
“Strong labour relations are essential to the success of Canadian workers, businesses and our economy. As workplaces continue to evolve, our labour laws must keep pace to ensure workers are protected and workplaces remain fair and safe,” said Patty Hajdu, minister of jobs and families and minister responsible for the federal economic development agency for Northern Ontario, in a statement. “This legislation will protect the right to strike while reinforcing the responsibility of unions and employers to negotiate in good faith, helping ensure workers and employers can continue to navigate challenges together.”
However, Unifor countered that Bill C-39 infringed on workers’ right to strike.
“These proposed amendments to the Canada Labour Code give special authority to the Minister of Labour to override the ability of workers to exercise their right to strike,” said Unifor national president Lana Payne in a media release. “At a time when we should be standing together as a country to fend off attacks from the Trump trade war, workers and their unions must now also defend the right to fair and free collective bargaining.”
The organization noted that s.107 of the bill grants the labour minister unilateral powers to stop or conclude a dispute by forwarding it to binding arbitration. Moreover, the Labour Code changes include an outline for a national interest test.
“Whose interests are being protected here – those of corporations or workers? This process risks entrenching pre-emptive government intervention and creating a system where workers' rights can be stripped away based simply on where they work,” said Daniel Cloutier, Unifor’s Quebec director.
In May, Unifor said in its submission to the Employment and Social Development Canada’s 35-day consultation on modernizing the federal labour relations framework that the government held mistaken assumptions about existing structures. Following the announcement of Bill C-39, the union urged parliament members to support workers.
“Government needs to understand that there will be intended and unintended consequences from these proposed changes, on collective bargaining, on workers' ability to make positive changes in their workplaces and on how employers will now behave at bargaining tables,” Payne said.
Nonetheless, the union lauded the bill’s addressing of contract flipping concerns at airports; under this practice, contractors who provide services at airports and other workplaces lose their union bargaining rights and collective agreements if said workplaces change contractors. Bill C-39 would enable workers to maintain union representation and collective agreements in such cases.
“Unifor members in airports especially have experienced the destabilizing effects of contract flipping, and it's far past time for this practice to end. This kind of protection is all the more important now, given the government's airport privatization plans,” Payne said.
The bill also includes a Unifor-recommended change that tackles access to first collective agreement arbitration.
