Manitoba's NDP government to ban replacement workers during lockouts, strikes

Manitoba's NDP government plans to ban the hiring of replacement workers during labour disputes.

In a letter dated Dec. 18, Labour and Immigration Minister Malaya Marcelino asks the chair of the Manitoba labour management review committee for advice about implementing such a ban.

"To protect good jobs, support fair collective bargaining and minimize labour disputes, our government plans on amending the Labour Relations Act to prohibit the use of replacement workers during a legal strike or lockout," Marcelino tells review committee chair Michael Werier in the letter, a copy of which was obtained by CBC News.

"This amendment will expand Manitoba's existing prohibition on the permanent use of replacement workers to temporary replacement workers."

Marcelino proceeds to ask for advice in defining what constitutes a replacement worker, ensuring employers respect a ban on their use, and protecting workers against reprisals if they refuse to work in place of people on strike.

The move to ban replacement workers follows an NDP resolution approved by the party at a convention in Winnipeg in 2022.

At the time, party leader Wab Kinew — now Manitoba's premier — said that a law banning replacement workers "makes sense" to him personally.

He also said the issue isn't widely understood by other Manitobans and promised to consult the public about such a ban.

Previous NDP premiers Gary Doer and Greg Selinger decided against such bans, saying the requirement of binding arbitration 60 days into a labour dispute had already reduced the length of strikes and lockouts and resulted in labour peace.

The Manitoba Federation of Labour supports the proposed ban on replacement workers.

"Employers are using replacement workers more often. They have been used in four of the last five full strikes in Manitoba, and employers often pay these replacement workers more than what they were paying their regular staff, and that just isn't fair," federation president Kevin Rebeck said in a statement. 

Unifor, a union representing 315,000 Canadian workers, also voiced support in a statement for the proposed Manitoba changes.

Loren Remillard, president of the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce, said he does not understand why the Kinew government is reviving the idea.

"There was a resolution at their policy convention as a party, but now they're government. Now you need to demonstrate the evidence to support moving in this direction," Remillard said in a telephone interview.

PC labour critic Jodie Byram said banning replacement workers will harm the economy and businesses that rely on services.

She accused the NDP government of "tipping the scales against Manitobans in favour of their union bosses," saying they "would rather see massive service disruptions than fair collective bargaining."

That will hurt Manitoba's reputation as investors dismiss the province as "an unreliable trading partner," she said in a statement.

In her letter to Werier, Marcelino also said the province intends to amend the Labour Relations Act to allow workers the option of single-step unionization.