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WINNIPEG—Unifor enthusiastically supports the Manitoba government’s reported intention to introduce anti-scab legislation and single-step union certification.
“This is an important move to help strengthen collective bargaining and workers’ rights in the province of Manitoba,” said Lana Payne, Unifor National President. “Scab labour undermines the whole collective bargaining process, creates the potential for increased hostility and confrontation on picket lines, and prolongs labour disputes.”
Manitoba would become the third provincial jurisdiction to ban scabs, joining British Columbia and Quebec. The Government of Canada has introduced legislation to ban replacement workers in federally regulated sectors.
“Wealthy business owners will resist any pro-worker change to labour law, but these changes help workers. Our priority is making sure that Manitobans have good jobs with fair wages. Access to unionization and balanced collective bargaining is the best way to improve your rights at work,” said Gavin McGarrigle, Unifor Western Regional Director.
Single-step union certification helps streamline the process for workers to form a union and is already in place in Quebec, British Columbia, and in the federal sector. Manitoba had single-step certification until former conservative premier Brian Pallister took it away in 2016.
Unifor has long advocated for anti-scab legislation and reducing the barriers to unionization.
Unifor is Canada’s largest union in the private sector, representing 315,000 workers in every major area of the economy. The union advocates for all working people and their rights, fights for equality and social justice in Canada and abroad, and strives to create progressive change for a better future.
