Trudeau could have been a hero with workers, ends up being a zero, says McGowan

EDMONTON – “Yesterday, unions representing 350,000 Alberta workers sent a letter to Team Trudeau urging them to respect the bargaining process. They ignored us. When the rules are so blatantly stacked against workers, eventually workers will have no choice but to defy those rules. Over the past six months, the federal government has stripped the right to strike – which is supposed to be a constitutionally protected right – from airline workers, port workers, rail workers, and now postal workers. Here in Alberta, the provincial government is no doubt rubbing their hands in glee. The federal government has basically given them a green light to crush strikes at the provincial level, too. With 250,000 provincial workers at the bargaining table right now, this is a very big deal. However, if politicians think that workers will continue to meekly accept having their bargaining power stripped from them without reaction or consequence, they have another thing coming. A breaking point is coming. How can our political leaders not see this? They’re playing with fire.”

Gil McGowan, President, Alberta Federation of Labour

Here are excerpts from the letter that unions representing 350,000 Alberta workers sent to the Trudeau government on Sunday.

“You (federal Minister Steve MacKinnon) acknowledged that all Canadian workers have a constitutionally-protected right to strike. But then you went on to suggest that four weeks is enough. So, which is it? Do workers have the right to strike or not? With due respect, you may be a Minister of the Crown, but that does NOT entitle you to put a time limit or an expiry date on the rights of Canadians.”

“You (Minister MacKinnon) also said you had to act because the strike had become ‘too disruptive.’ Again, with due respect, strikes are SUPPOSED to be disruptive. That’s literally the point. If strikes were not disruptive, workers would have no leverage, and without leverage, all the bargaining power would be with employers, not workers. That’s a recipe for a race to the bottom in terms wages and working conditions, which would be bad news for both the vast majority of Canadians who work for a living AND the Canadian economy as a whole.”

“If you (Canadian Industrial Relations Board Chair Ginette Brazeau) rule that there is no hope for a negotiated settlement, you will be setting a very dangerous precedent. Specifically, you will be sending a message to all employers in federally-regulated sectors – and, by example, employers in provincially-regulated sectors, as well – that all they have to do to get a government-imposed settlement is stall negotiations for a few weeks during a strike.”

“In this case, giving Minister MacKinnon what he clearly wants could have the effect of exporting the poisonous labour-management culture that exists at Canada Post to other employers, thereby making a mockery of the collective bargaining process across the country.”

“We demand that you (Minster Jean-Yves Duclos) use your power as minister responsible for Canada Post to fire some or all of (Canada Post’s) board members AND set an explicit policy that Canada Post will NOT adopt the race-to-the-bottom human resources policies of companies like Amazon.”

“In the context of the current postal strike, we have questions for you (Prime Minister Justin Trudeau). They are questions that have implications far beyond Canada Post. And, they are questions that we will be asking of all political leaders, especially those who hope to win the support of workers. Here they are: Do you really want to a race-to-the-bottom, Amazon-style labour market in Canada? If not, what are you willing to do to stop it?”

“We think that the Canada Post strike represents an opportunity for you (Trudeau) and your government to demonstrate clearly that you understand what’s happening with the increased ‘gigification’ of work in Canada, especially for young people. Further, we think the strike presents an opportunity for you and your government to draw a line in the stand against an Amazon-style economy and demonstrate that you’re on the side of ordinary working Canadians, not billionaires, and corporations.”

Clearly, the Prime Minister and his cabinet chose to NOT seize the opportunity we identified. You can read our full letter here.

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MEDIA CONTACT:
Ian Hussey
Director of Energy Policy
Email: ihussey@afl.org