This text is part of the special section Unionism
The dispute between Brandt Tractor and its workers in Saguenay, which is preparing to celebrate its first anniversary, clearly shows the importance of strengthening workers’ rights, underlines the Centrale des syndicats nationaux (CSD).
“How is it that with nine court decisions, all in favor of the union, nothing changes? » asks Luc Vachon, president of the CSD. In Saguenay, the standoff continues between Brandt Tractor and its 11 workers over the renewal of their collective agreement, which expired on December 31, 2020.
From the start of negotiations, the courts were involved, with the union filing a bad faith bargaining complaint with the Administrative Labor Tribunal (TAT). The employer notably added several clauses to the collective agreement which would allow it to modify the conditions and organization of work as well as the salary whenever it sees fit. “He says, you have rights, but in one sentence takes them all away,” says Mr. Vachon. Workers launched an indefinite general strike on May 25, 2023.
More bite
Use of strikebreakers, contesting decisions in court: for almost a year, the conflict has been standing still. Even if the laws in place have condemned the offending company, nothing has changed. “The Brandt Tractor conflict is happening in the region and concerns few workers. Not many people are interested in it,” laments Mr. Vachon. Without its association with the CSD, the National Union of Garage Employees of Quebec (SNEGQ) of which the dozen workers from Saguenay belong would not have had the backbone strong enough to face the conflict. “An employee union not affiliated with a group would have been forced to go to bed on day one,” he notes.
If the conflict had affected a large number of workers or a key sector of the economy, things would have changed, believes Mr. Vachon. “The laws have lost their effectiveness, and public opinion exerts more pressure than the laws, despite what we are told,” he insists. If the laws were truly just, the outcome of a conflict would not be dictated by the number of employees. »
The CSD thus pleads for the obligations to be more restrictive, and the fines, more significant. The $25,000 fine imposed on Brandt has little impact on the large company, “the largest privately owned dealer of John Deere construction and forestry equipment in the world,” we can read on its website. “It costs them less to pay the fine and circumvent the law,” observes Mr. Vachon. Because during all these procedures, operations did not stop.
Imbalance of power
In Quebec, the Labor Code prohibits replacement workers (scabs). However, this is less and less adapted to the new realities of the world of work: teleworking, multiplication of divisions, relocation. A company can easily, in the event of a labor dispute, move work to another division. “It then becomes difficult to prove that scabs were used,” explains Mr. Vachon. Brandt Tractor mechanics, for example, sometimes work on the road, and the company replaced them with independent mechanics during the conflict. The courts are increasingly aware of this reality, but there is still a long way to go to protect workers’ rights while taking these new realities into account.
The federal government is currently working on a bill amending the Canada Labor Code, which aims, among other things, to prohibit the use of replacement workers during a labor dispute in companies under federal jurisdiction. “If they go all the way, Canada will be a step ahead of Quebec,” says Mr. Vachon.
This bill has many employers up in arms, who believe that it will destabilize the balance of power. “But what balance? » denounces Mr. Vachon. This reminds us that when workers set foot on the employer’s territory during this type of conflict, the escalation is rapid: police, injunction. “It works,” he points out. The balance of power is far from balanced, he asserts.
Before even drafting laws, we must therefore give them teeth: “We must strengthen the laws. The sanctions must be stronger and the message must be clear: this is not happening. It’s too easy to miss,” he concludes.
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