The federal government says new labour rules will reduce intervention in strikes, but they could weaken workers’ bargaining power.
- PhD candidate, Labour Studies, McMaster University
Canada supports the first international treaty protecting platform workers. The same government is weighing a proposal that could make it difficult to legally strike in the rail and marine sectors.
The dispute exposes several fault lines in Canada around work, how we value it and how the law impacts workers.
Canada’s new working class is more likely to be personified by a retail clerk than someone manufacturing cars in an auto-assembly factory.
Workers in industries like railways and air travel have significant structural power and can use their leverage to win favourable contracts because of the amount of economic disruption they can cause.
Unions speaking out on issues as contentious as Israel-Palestine is nothing new. They have a long history of staking international positions on everything from apartheid to the Vietnam War.
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