While the Carney government boasted about standing up to President Trump over the past few months to defend the interests of working Canadians, it is now flip-flopping as Parliament resumes with an outright attack on workers’ most fundamental rights.
“The legislation tabled this week reads like a wish-list for employers who want to be freed from their obligations towards workers. The prime minister has chosen his corner, and he is definitely not on the side of workers or the middle class,” said CUPE Québec president Patrick Gloutney.
Remarkably, the Liberal government’s proposed legislation aims to break legal strikes and further complicate matters when workers exercise their rights, by imposing new restrictive deadlines.
“From now on, employers and corporations in the federal sector will know the government is in their corner during negotiations; they will have no interest in bargaining in good faith. We saw this dynamic play out in the labour dispute between Air Canada and its flight attendants. With the Carney team in their corner, management was emboldened to act dishonestly, and it poisoned the bargaining environment. The new bill being tabled would enshrine an imbalance in favor of corporate interests, to the detriment of workers,” added Fanny Demontigny, CUPE-Québec general secretary.
CUPE-Québec plans to lead the charge against this Bill to defend the rights of all Québec workers. “With the recent attacks we have suffered at the hands of the CAQ, it is time for governments to demonstrate who they really work for and to ensure they are not trampling on the fundamental rights of the people of Québec,” said Patrick Gloutney, in closing.
