Unions protest proposed right-to-strike restriction at Halifax MP’s office

Labour activists protested outside Halifax MP Shannon Miedema’s office against proposed legislation that would restrict the right to strike. 

Over 50 protestors, including some representing the province’s largest unions, chanted and picketed on Oct. 2 outside the building containing Miedema’s office, directly across from Halifax City Hall on Barrington Street. 

“The protest is a message to the federal government that Bill C-39 is no good for workers,” says Melissa Marsman, president of the Nova Scotia Federation of Labour. 

Bill C-39, proposed by Miedema’s Liberal Party, would allow the federal labour minister to end a union strike if they deem it against “the national interest.”

“This was a phenomenal turnout because these workers know that it’s going to affect them. It’s going to affect all Nova Scotians.”

Marsman called on Miedema and the other 10 Nova Scotia MPs — all Liberals — to vote against the bill, saying it would be a betrayal of Nova Scotians to support it.

The proposed legislation would only affect strikes in federally regulated industries, including airlines, ports, federal Crown corporations and banks, but union leaders say it would inspire provincial copycat bills if passed. 

“If the MPs in Nova Scotia vote for this legislation, they are [doing] that to the detriment of Nova Scotians,” says Marsman.

So far, union leaders have met with eight of Nova Scotia’s MPs about the bill, says Marsman.

“We’ve asked them to go and vote this down. They have not given any promises,” she says. “They’ve listened to us, whether they will take this information back to Ottawa, we’re not sure.”

Marsman also says if the legislation passed, employers wouldn’t negotiate in good faith with unions knowing any strike action can be ended by the government.

Also represented at the protest were the Nova Scotia Government and General Employees Union and contingents of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, Unifor and Public Service Alliance of Canada, among many others.

Govind Rao, political action coordinator for CUPE Atlantic, says Miedema should “stop siding with business and side with Canadian workers.”

“What’s at stake for Nova Scotians right now is their ability to control their lives.” 

NSGEU, CUPE and PSAC all represent workers at Dalhousie University. The Service Employees International Union, which represents workers at Dal dining halls employed by third-party contractors, were also at the protest.

The proposed law, tabled on Sept. 21, allows the labour minister to “take any measure” to end a labour dispute, including ordering a union back to work.

It also changes the law in other sectors, including reducing the review process for industrial projects like pipelines and creating “regions of national interest” where development can be fast-tracked further.

There were protests outside Liberal MPs’ offices across the country against the bill, which labour groups say is unconstitutional.

Marsman says they will do whatever they need to stop the legislation, which the government is expected to push through Parliament quickly.

“As many protests, as many rallies that we need to do, we will do. It’s ongoing every day. It’s a moving target.”