NDP stands with workers on Labour Day to defend the right to strike

Toronto– NDP Leader Avi Lewis and MP Leah Gazan joined thousands of union members at Toronto's Labour Day Parade on Monday, calling on the federal government to protect free collective bargaining and the right to strike.

Lewis and Gazan marched alongside several leaders from major unions as well as rank and file members from across the Greater Toronto Area.

This Labour Day comes at a critical moment for workers. As an escalating trade war threatens jobs and livelihoods across Canada, the federal government is reviewing the Canada Labour Code, including provisions governing collective bargaining and labour disputes.

New Democrats and labour leaders are putting the government on notice that this is no time to weaken workers’ rights or make it easier to shut down collective action. At a moment of growing economic uncertainty, working people need more power to defend their jobs, wages and working conditions, not less.

The NDP is calling on Parliament to pass MP Leah Gazan’s Bill C-247 and repeal Section 107 of the Canada Labour Code, a provision the government has used multiple times to intervene in legal strikes. New Democrats say the federal government should be strengthening free collective bargaining, not preserving tools that favour corporations and throw workers under the bus.

Avi Lewis, Leader of Canada’s NDP, said:

“At a time when a trade war is putting workers and communities under enormous pressure, the answer cannot be to take away even more power from working people. The right to strike is fundamental to free collective bargaining, and New Democrats will stand shoulder to shoulder with the labour movement against any attempt to weaken it.”

Leah Gazan, NDP MP for Winnipeg Centre, said:

“The right to strike is a fundamental right, but governments have repeatedly used Section 107 to interfere in legal strikes and tip the scales against workers. That has to end.

“Bill C-247 would repeal Section 107 and make sure workers can exercise their rights without the threat of political interference hanging over every round of bargaining. As the government reviews the Canada Labour Code, it has a choice: strengthen workers’ rights or weaken them. New Democrats are clear about which side we are on.”

Mark Hancock, National President of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), said:

“The right to strike is how generations of workers won things like the weekend, safer workplaces and better wages. Governments should defend that power — not weaken it to give employers an easier way out of bargaining.”

Jan Simpson, National President of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW), said:

“Rather than protecting workers, our government is choosing to assault our hard-fought rights to collective bargaining and to strike. This Labour Day, workers must stand shoulder to shoulder across the labour movement to defend and strengthen those rights won through struggle.”