An Act to amend the Canada Labour Code (replacement workers)

This bill makes a narrow change to the Canada Labour Code, which governs labour relations for federally regulated workplaces such as banks, airlines, telecommunications companies, and interprovincial transportation. It closes what supporters would call a loophole in the existing ban on using replacement workers during a strike or lockout.

Currently, the law already restricts employers from bringing in outside people to do the jobs of striking or locked-out employees, but it makes an exception for managers or employees who handle confidential labour-relations matters at the affected workplace itself. This bill clarifies and tightens that rule by specifying that this exception does not extend to managers or confidential employees whose normal workplace is somewhere else, or who were transferred into the struck workplace after bargaining notice was given. In other words, an employer could not shift managers or confidential staff from another location into the location experiencing a strike or lockout to perform the struck employees' work.

The practical effect is that during a labour dispute, employers covered by the Canada Labour Code would have a harder time using staff from other offices or branches to substitute for striking workers, reinforcing the restriction on replacement workers.

This bill amends section 94(4)(c) of the Canada Labour Code to prohibit employers from using managers or confidential industrial-relations employees from other workplaces to do the jobs of striking or locked-out employees.

• Obligation created — employers are barred from using the services of any person who performs management functions or works in a confidential industrial-relations capacity, if that person's normal workplace is elsewhere or they were transferred in after notice to bargain was given, to perform the duties of a striking or locked-out employee.
• Scope of restriction — the prohibition applies specifically during a strike or lockout, covering people whose normal workplace is different from the one affected, or who were moved to that workplace after collective bargaining notice was given.
• No new body or office — the bill does not create any new regulator, appointed office, or enforcement agency; it operates by amending an existing Code provision.
• Enforcement mechanism — the text does not specify a penalty or enforcement process for breach; it relies on the existing Canada Labour Code framework for administering and enforcing section 94.
• Oversight — no reporting requirement, review clause, or sunset provision is included in the text.