POILIEVRE, PAYNE, AND THE LABOUR VOTE
Geoff Meggs
If Pierre Poilievre is serious about winning votes in the labour movement, he’ll have to learn to say “scab,” as in “I support anti-scab legislation.”
That was the test set for the Conservative leader on November 13 by Lana Payne, president of Unifor, Canada’s largest private-sector union.
Poilievre failed.
Payne is demanding all-party support for long-awaited federal anti-scab legislation introduced earlier this month by Liberal labour minister Seamus O’Regan to unanimous acclaim from trade union leaders.
The bill, the culmination of decades of work by the labour movement, would prohibit the use of “replacement workers,” as they’re called in polite circles, in strikes or lockouts in federally regulated sectors like aviation, rail, ports, telecommunications and broadcasting.
A Liberal campaign pledge in 2021 and a cornerstone of the Confidence and Supply Agreement negotiated with Jagmeet Singh’s NDP, the bill has the potential to blunt Poilievre’s charm offensive with working class voters unless he gets behind it.
But questioned by reporters, the normally loquacious and acerbic Conservative leader was tongue-tied. “We’re going to study the legislation,” he said, as if considering the concept for the first time, adding later that “Conservatives are 100 percent on side with workers, union and non-union, who are fighting for pay hikes.”
Really?
Most union members understand very quickly that being “100 percent on side” means supporting the right to free collective bargaining, including the right to strike without fear of being replaced.
Payne is understandably sceptical. “Given the Conservative leader’s past record with respect to union and workers’ rights,” she said, “we are not holding our breath here. If Pierre Poilievre truly supports the rights of working people there is only one way to vote.”
Payne is a new and powerful figure among Canadian labour leaders whom politicians offend at their peril. Just a year ago, the former journalist and long-time labour leader won a hard-fought election to replace Unifor firebrand Jerry Dias, who retired amid controversies over financial wrong-doing.
She then charged straight into collective bargaining with Canada’s big three automakers, the Triple Crown of private sector labour negotiations, landing major gains at all three.
During the same period, her team fought a tough Ontario strike by grocery workers against the Metro chain that included membership rejection of a proposed agreement, and renewed job action before a better deal was achieved.
To round off her first year at the helm, Payne helped striking St. Lawrence Seaway workers negotiate important gains in a dispute that paralyzed Canada’s inland waterways.
Economist Jim Stanford, who spent many years as a key member of Unifor’s bargaining team, points to the relatively low ratification votes in the auto disputes as a sign of surging militancy among union members in the face of cost of living increases.
If Conservatives hope to harness that anger, they’ll need to do more than express empathy.
Poilievre seems to have “a parochial view of what a worker is,” Stanford says, “with a focus on male, blue collar resource sector workers.”
The modern labour movement is racially diverse and ready to extend its reach in manufacturing, the service sector and the gig economy. Inflation is a big concern, but so is on-the-job safety, pay equity and protection against sexual harassment. Is Poilievre ready to back those causes?
A ban on replacement workers may seem novel to Poilievre but similar legislation has been in effect in Quebec and British Columbia for decades. In fact, when former BC Premier Gordon Campbell was dismantling NDP labour legislation in 2002, the anti-scab law was the only piece he retained, wary of the backlash such a move could provoke.
Poilievre was notably silent earlier this year, both during the Seaway dispute and BC’s longshoremen’s strike, when business interests demanded back-to-work legislation, something the Conservative leader has voted for on multiple occasions. He can only remain silent so long.
At least 70,000 Unifor members will benefit from the new anti-scab legislation. Lana Payne will make sure every one of them knows Poilievre’s position well before the election.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Geoff Meggs - Geoff is a Canadian politician, political operative and communications expert, who served on Vancouver, British Columbia's City Council from 2008 to 2017. He was first elected in the 2008 municipal election, and resigned his seat on city council in 2017 to accept a job as chief of staff to John Horgan, the Premier of British Columbia. Prior to his election to City Council in 2017, Geoff served as Executive Director for the BC Federation of Labour.
The views and opinions expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the position of Air Quotes Media. Read more opinion contributions via QUOTES from Air Quotes Media.