SUDBURY – Canada’s NDP is set to deliver on a long overdue key labour policy with anti-scab labour legislation, which will prevent federally-regulated employers from bringing in replacement workers during strikes.
“This is a milestone for workers across the country,” said Jamie West (Sudbury), the Official Opposition NDP Critic for Labour, Training and Skills Development. “Workers across the country are feeling hopeful, thanks to the NDP’s persistence and commitment to ensure that the federal government brought forward this key legislation.
Ontario’s workers deserve the same respect and hope. Anti-scab legislation and increased protections for workers is long overdue in Ontario, and it’s time that the Ford Conservatives stop voting down anti-scab measures brought forward by Ontario NDP and gets it done for Ontario’s workers.”
Canada’s NDP and labour organizations across the country have worked tirelessly to hold the federal government to account to deliver on one of the key demands of the Confidence and Supply Agreement with this legislation.
Ontario’s NDP tabled the Anti-Scab Labour Act to cover provincially regulated workers in March of this year. The province’s first NDP government banned scab labour in 1992; Mike Harris’ Conservatives repealed the law in 1995. The current bill is the 16th time the Ontario NDP has tabled this legislation since then. West will be debating the latest Anti-Scab Labour Act on November 23rd.