The Bank was found to have used scabs against striking workers again after being ordered to stop.

Winning a federal ban on scabs was a major victory for union members. It was supposed to increase workers’ bargaining leverage and help to rebalance the scales in federally regulated workplaces. Employers would no longer be able to simply hire replacement workers during legal strikes or lockouts, undermine the bargaining process, and prolong disputes until unions were forced to surrender. The law was supposed to mean what it said.

The Bank of Canada, however, appears determined to prove otherwise.

  • Maeve@kbin.earth
    3·
    27 days ago

    In early July, the CIRB ruled that the Bank of Canada contravened the new Code provision by relying on contracted Garda security personnel as well as assigning bargaining unit work to a few PSAC members who crossed the picket line. The Code prohibits using contractors or bargaining unit members to perform struck work. This first decision ordered the Bank to stop using scabs within 48 hours.

    Defying the order, the Bank instead switched contractors.

    The union then returned to the CIRB with a second complaint alleging that the employer had replaced Garda personnel with contractors from Pinkerton Consulting & Investigations, one of the most infamous names in labour history. For well over a century, the Pinkerton name has been synonymous with strikebreaking, union surveillance and employer opposition to organized labour across North America.

    Whether management appreciated the symbolism or not, hiring Pinkertons in the midst of one of the first few disputes under the new anti-scab law was an extraordinary decision.