(updated January 2010)

Not so free

"In the past 28 years Canadians have endured a serious erosion of a fundamental and universal human right: our right to free collective bargaining and the right to strike.

Our governments - federal and provincial - are to blame. Rather than protect our labour rights, they are more and more likely to provide the legal means to abuse or ignore them. This is a clear distortion of their law-making powers."

James Clancy - National President - NUPGE

189 wrongs

"Since 1982, our governments have passed 189 pieces of legislation that have restricted, suspended or denied collective bargaining rights for Canadian workers.

Our Canadian governments now regularly:

• deny workers the fundamental right to join a union

• outlaw the right to strike

• impose collective agreements on workers that represent the employer's last offer

• allow employers to engage in union-busting activities.

This sustained attack has hurt the labour movement's ability to effectively represent union members and to organize the unorganized. The Canadian labour movement must reverse this situation."

Wayne Hanley - National Director  - UFCW Canada

 
Time to campaign

It is time to vigorously campaign here in Canada and internationally to expose, resist and reverse this trend. This website is part of that campaign.

The foundation for this site and campaign is a national study recently completed and published by our two unions, as the book Collective Bargaining in Canada: Human Right or Canadian illusion? (2nd Edition).

This website takes that study and breaks it down into bite size chunks. It chronicles each of 177 pieces of restrictive labour legislation (since the book was published July 2006, there has been another 12 pieces of restrictive labour legislation passed by goverments in Canada). It examines the "human rights deficit" that this massive legislative assault on workers' rights has created for Canada. And it also examines how Canada has not lived up to many of its international commitments to promote and protect workers' rights.

This site also provides information on:

• the important role that unions play in society

• Canada's international commitments to promote freedom of association

• Canada's record with the International Labour Organization (ILO).

Get involved and be a part of the campaign to restore workers' rights and fairness in Canada's labour laws.