Unions, Employers Split on Government Intervention in Labour Disputes

Teamsters Canada Rail Conference members picket outside the CPKC headquarters in Calgary, Alta., Aug. 23, 2024. The Canadian Press/Jeff McIntosh

The federal government says employers and unions are divided over how much power Ottawa should have to intervene in labour disputes.

Employment and Social Development Canada released a report today on what it heard from stakeholders over the spring and summer about reforms to the federal labour code.

The report says that employers and labour groups both felt the existing system for collective bargaining functions well in the vast majority of situations and any reforms should be targeted, not sweeping.

But participants in the review said that framework is not well suited to handling highly complex disputes that can result in sprawling economic disruptions beyond a particular industry.

The department says most employers asked for stronger government powers to intervene in labour disputes deemed to affect the national interest, like shutdowns at major ports and railways.

Unions, meanwhile, opposed any measures that they viewed as curtailing workers’ right to strike in pursuit of a deal.