Intervention in CN Rail dispute ignores Canada's international commitments to the UN and the ILO
Ottawa (22 Feb. 2007) - The federal government is once again violating Canada's international labour obligations by calling on Parliament to end a legal labour dispute, says the National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE).
Labour Minister Pierre Blackburn has given notice that he will introduce legislation on Friday to end a strike by the United Transportation Union (UTU) against CN Rail.
"This is another regrettable example of Canada abrogating labour and human rights obligations," says NUPGE president James Clancy.
"We have a duty as a country to honour to honour these conventions and treaties that our governments have signed over the years with the United Nations (UN) and the International Labour Organization (ILO).
"Canada's 'new government' is behaving in the old discredited way that governments in the past have behaved by violating our international obligations to respect the rights of workers," Clancy said.
"In the last 25 years, governments at all levels in Canada have intervened at least 87 times in labour disputes to order strikers back to work or to impose settlements against their will – or both," he said.
"This makes a mockery of Canada's signature on international labour and human rights conventions and treaties. The Harper Conservatives are behaving no better than the Liberals did," Clancy argued.
"There is no compelling need for the government to intervene. The strike has been declared legal by the Canadian Industrial Relations Board (CIRB) and the parties should be left to resolve their differences through the collective bargaining process."
Back-to-work legislation has been passed by Ottawa 31 times since 1950, including six times in the rail industry. The most recent occurrence was more than a decade ago, in 1995. NUPGE
More information:
• Summary of restrictive labour laws in Canada since 1982 - pdf
• NUPGE Labour Rights Page
• NDP Leader Jack Layton signs The Workers' Bill of Rights
• BQ leader Gilles Duceppe signs The Workers' Bill or Rights
• Canada's human rights deficit - freedom of association
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