Local labour unions rally at Hamilton Centre MP’s office against ‘anti-labour legislation’

The Hamilton and District Labour Council and Local Union affiliate gathered outside an MP’s constituency office Friday evening to rally against what they call federal anti-labour legislation.

Dozens of workers and supporters stood outside Hamilton Centre MP Aslam Rana’s office.

Demonstrators say striking is their right, and they’re calling to stop Bill C-39 and to repeal Section 107.

They say by leveraging Section 107 of the Canada Labour Code, the federal government has repeatedly bypassed standard industrial relations processes, to force striking workers back to work, and impose binding arbitration, stripping workers of their primary leverage.

They add that Bill C-39 will extend these ministerial powers, granting unprecedented discretion to shut down legal strikes under a broadly defined “National Interest” trigger.

WATCH MORE: Workers at Hamilton’s National Steel Car strike after rejecting contract

“The government has already been using Section 107 of the Canadian Labour Code to try and do that, already they claim everything is a national emergency, they try to end strikes early,” said Anthony Marco, the president of the Hamilton and District Labour Council. “They’ve interfered in so many collective bargaining rounds at this point, and they’re trying to give themselves even more powers to do that, so we’re trying to say it’s time to stop, it’s time to ease back on that. To get rid of Section 107 and make sure that Bill C-39 doesn’t go through.”

“We are currently on strike at National Steel Car and this bill coming out will affect us directly,” said Frank Crowder, the president of the United Steelworkers Union Local 7135. “Even though it’s a federal bill, it will cascade down into the provincial, we know that Doug Ford will jump on this, we’ll get ordered back to work, and we’ll have to take a substandard deal — something that we’re on strike for.”

The first reading of the bill is already done, and the second reading is expected to come up soon.

The union says they’ll continue to rally outside of the offices of other Liberal MPs in the coming weeks.

READ MORE: Hamilton Starbucks workers join the United Steelworkers union