When could PSAC strike end? How Ottawa has dealt with past job actions

How long could Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) members be on strike?

That question is being asked of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government, which has the power to table back-to-work legislation, as federal public servants strike for the second day Thursday.

The Liberals, who have a minority government, have sidestepped those questions, and opposition parties are facing queries as well on whether they would support such a bill.

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said Wednesday his party, which is backing the Liberals on key items through a supply-and-confidence agreement, would not support back-to-work legislation.

The Conservatives were non-committal on supporting such legislation, with the party’s Treasury Board critic MP Stephanie Kusie saying Wednesday the “incompetence” of the Trudeau government is what’s caused the strike.

Though both parties say they want to see the two sides reach a deal, it’s unclear how long the strike will go on, and how it will end. The government and union units have been negotiating for two years.

Throughout, Trudeau’s government has worked with unions and labour groups on various priorities, including a plan to introduce anti-scab legislation by year’s end to ban the use of replacement workers during a strike or lockout.

However, Trudeau, who said Wednesday it’s important “to respect labour rights,” has introduced back-to-work legislation before.

Here are some examples of how his governments have dealt with strikes and the threat of job action in the past.

The Trudeau government was under pressure in March 2022 to introduce back-to-work legislation in what ended up being a brief strike between CP Rail and the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference.

Roughly 3,000 CP Rail conductors, engineers and train and yard workers were off the job on March 20 and 21, eventually reaching an agreement on March 22.

Industry groups pressed Ottawa to introduce back-to-work legislation to end the work stoppage. They said the stakes were high, given the CP Rail shutdown came at a time when many businesses were dealing with supply chain difficulties caused by COVID-19, extreme weather and protester blockades at border crossings.

Federal Labour Minister Seamus O’Regan said in a statement at the time, the outcome was “further evidence that when employers and unions work together, we get the best results for Canadians and our economy.”

Unlike the CP Rail strike, the job action taken at the key Port of Montreal in 2021 didn’t end by a negotiated agreement.

For the second time as prime minister, Trudeau passed back-to-work legislation, this time with the help of the Conservatives. Three Liberals, as well as the Bloc Quebecois, NDP and Green MPs, voted against it.

Roughly 1,150 dockworkers went on strike April 26, 2021 after being without a contract since December 2018. The Liberals’ legislation passed the House on April 29 that year after being tabled two days prior. It was approved by the Senate on April 30.

Then-labour minister Filomena Tassi said at the time if strike was allowed to drag on, it would’ve cost the economy $40 to $100 million per week, directly threatening 19,000 jobs and indirectly affecting hundreds of thousands of other jobs across the country.

The Trudeau government avoided a potential strike vote by PSAC when the union signed on to an agreement for retributions over Ottawa’s troubled Phoenix pay system.

The deal was announced on July 10, 2020, more than a year after the union rejected the government’s initial offer – the lone holdout since more than a dozen other unions signed that agreement compensating impacted civil servants.

PSAC’s rejection kicked off a process in which a three-person panel would look at the bargaining process and author a report. If nothing changed in that time period, PSAC would’ve been legally be allowed to hold a strike vote.

The union eventually reached a deal with Ottawa that saw its members collect up to $2,500 each in cash payments over the harms caused by the system.

The prime minister also faced pressure to intervene after CN Rail workers went on strike in November 2019.

About 3,200 CN workers were without a contract since July 23 that year. They walked off the job on Nov. 19 over concerns about long hours, fatigue and “dangerous working conditions.” The two sides announced they reached a deal on Nov. 26.

Industry leaders from farming to mining and forestry called on the Trudeau government to resolve the strike by getting Parliament, which was on break, back early to pass back-to-work legislation. The government chose to let both sides stay at the bargaining table.

The union thanked the Liberals for respecting workers’ right to strike.

Trudeau, three years after first being elected to a majority government, came under fire for enacting back-to-work legislation in November 2018, ending a weeks-long strike by Canada Post workers.

The workers had been on rotating strikes since Oct. 22, 2018 over better job security, improved health and safety, and other measures. The government’s back-to-work legislation passed in the House of Commons on Nov. 23, 2018, after being introduced the day prior and passed the Senate on Nov. 26.

Canada Post employees occupied offices of several politicians in protest of the planned legislation, calling on Ottawa to respect workers’ rights to free and fair collective bargaining.

Then-labour minister Patty Hajdu said the government had a responsibility to all Canadians and businesses that drive the economy. The strike caused massive backlogs of unsorted mail and packages at postal depots.

— With files from Global News reporters and The Canadian Press