Marginal note:Employer interference in trade union
94 (1) No employer or person acting on behalf of an employer shall
(a) participate in or interfere with the formation or administration of a trade union or the representation of employees by a trade union; or
(b) contribute financial or other support to a trade union.
Marginal note:Exception
(2) An employer is deemed not to contravene subsection (1) by reason only that they
(a) in respect of a trade union that is the bargaining agent for a bargaining unit comprised of or including employees of the employer,
(i) permit an employee or representative of the trade union to confer with them during hours of work or to attend to the business of the trade union during hours of work without any deduction from wages or any deduction of time worked for the employer,
(ii) provide free transportation to representatives of the trade union for purposes of collective bargaining, the administration of a collective agreement and related matters, or
(iii) permit the trade union to use their premises for the purposes of the trade union;
(b) contribute financial support to any pension, health or other welfare trust fund the sole purpose of which is to provide pension, health or other welfare rights or benefits to employees; or
(c) express a personal point of view, so long as the employer does not use coercion, intimidation, threats, promises or undue influence.
(2.1) [Repealed, 2024, c. 12, s. 9]
Marginal note:Prohibitions relating to employers
(3) No employer or person acting on behalf of an employer shall
(a) refuse to employ or to continue to employ or suspend, transfer, lay off or otherwise discriminate against any person with respect to employment, pay or any other term or condition of employment or intimidate, threaten or otherwise discipline any person, because the person
(i) is or proposes to become, or seeks to induce any other person to become, a member, officer or representative of a trade union or participates in the promotion, formation or administration of a trade union,
(ii) has been expelled or suspended from membership in a trade union for a reason other than a failure to pay the periodic dues, assessments and initiation fees uniformly required to be paid by all members of the trade union as a condition of acquiring or retaining membership in the trade union,
(iii) has testified or otherwise participated or may testify or otherwise participate in a proceeding under this Part,
(iv) has made or is about to make a disclosure that the person may be required to make in a proceeding under this Part,
(v) has made an application or filed a complaint under this Part, or
(vi) has participated in a strike that is not prohibited by this Part or exercised any right under this Part;
(b) impose any condition in a contract of employment that restrains, or has the effect of restraining, an employee from exercising any right conferred on them by this Part;
(c) suspend, discharge or impose any financial or other penalty on an employee, or take any other disciplinary action against an employee, by reason of their refusal to perform all or some of the duties and responsibilities of another employee who is participating in a strike or subject to a lockout that is not prohibited by this Part;
(d) deny to any employee any pension rights or benefits to which the employee would be entitled but for
(i) the cessation of work by the employee as the result of a lockout or strike that is not prohibited by this Part, or
(ii) the dismissal of the employee contrary to this Part;
(d.1) where the requirements of paragraphs 89(1)(a) to (d) have been met, cancel or threaten to cancel a medical, dental, disability, life or other insurance plan, whether administered by the employer or otherwise, that benefits employees, so long as the bargaining agent tenders or attempts to tender to the employer payments or premiums sufficient to continue the plan;
(d.2) where the requirements of paragraphs 89(1)(a) to (d) have been met and the bargaining agent has tendered or attempted to tender to the employer payments or premiums sufficient to continue an insurance plan referred to in paragraph (d.1), deny or threaten to deny to any employee any benefits under the plan to which the employee was entitled before those requirements were met;
(e) seek, by intimidation, threat of dismissal or any other kind of threat, by the imposition of a financial or other penalty or by any other means, to compel a person to refrain from becoming or to cease to be a member, officer or representative of a trade union or to refrain from
(i) testifying or otherwise participating in a proceeding under this Part,
(ii) making a disclosure that the person may be required to make in a proceeding under this Part, or
(iii) making an application or filing a complaint under this Part;
(f) suspend, discharge or impose any financial or other penalty on a person employed by them, or take any other disciplinary action against such a person, by reason of that person having refused to perform an act that is prohibited by this Part; or
(g) bargain collectively for the purpose of entering into a collective agreement or enter into a collective agreement with a trade union in respect of a bargaining unit, if another trade union is the bargaining agent for that bargaining unit.
Marginal note:Prohibition relating to replacement workers
(4) Subject to subsection (7), during a strike or lockout not prohibited by this Part, no employer or person acting on behalf of an employer shall use the services of any of the following persons to perform all or part of the duties of an employee who is in the bargaining unit on strike or locked out:
(a) any employee or any person who performs management functions or who is employed in a confidential capacity in matters related to industrial relations, if that employee or person is hired after the day on which notice to bargain collectively is given;
(b) any contractor, other than a dependent contractor, or any employee of another employer;
(c) any employee whose normal workplace is a workplace other than that at which the strike or lockout is taking place or who was transferred to the workplace at which the strike or lockout is taking place after the day on which notice to bargain collectively is given;
(d) any volunteer, student or member of the public.
Marginal note:Clarification — continuing services
(5) If, before the day on which notice to bargain collectively was given, an employer or person acting on behalf of an employer was using the services of a person referred to in paragraph (4)(b) and those services were the same as or substantially similar to the duties of an employee in the bargaining unit, they may continue to use those services throughout a strike or lockout not prohibited by this Part involving that unit so long as they do so in the same manner, to the same extent and in the same circumstances as they did before the notice was given.
Marginal note:Prohibition relating to employees in bargaining unit
(6) Subject to subsection (7), during a strike or lockout not prohibited by this Part that, with the exception of work performed for the purpose of compliance with section 87.4 or 87.7, is intended to involve the cessation of work by all employees in the bargaining unit, no employer or person acting on behalf of an employer shall use the services of any employee in that unit for a purpose other than compliance with those sections.
Marginal note:Exception — threat, destruction or damage
(7) An employer or person acting on behalf of an employer who uses the services of any person referred to in paragraphs (4)(a) to (d) or of an employee referred to in subsection (6) does not contravene subsection (4) or (6) if
(a) the services are used solely in order to deal with a situation that presents or could reasonably be expected to present an imminent or serious
(i) threat to the life, health or safety of any person,
(ii) threat of destruction of, or serious damage to, the employer’s property or premises, or
(iii) threat of serious environmental damage affecting the employer’s property or premises;
(b) the use of the services is necessary in order to deal with the situation because the employer or person acting on behalf of an employer is unable to do so by any other means, such as by using the services of a person who is not referred to in paragraphs (4)(a) to (d) or in subsection (6); and
(c) in the case of the services of a person referred to in paragraphs (4)(a) to (d), the employer or person acting on behalf of an employer gave the employees in the bargaining unit on strike or locked out the opportunity to perform the necessary work before using the services of that person.
Marginal note:For greater certainty
(8) For greater certainty, an employer or person acting on behalf of an employer may rely on subsection (7) only for the conservation purposes referred to in paragraph (7)(a) and not for the purpose of continuing the supply of services, operation of facilities or production of goods in a manner contrary to subsection (4) or (6).
- R.S., 1985, c. L-2, s. 94
- 1998, c. 26, s. 42
- 1999, c. 31, ss. 158(E), 162(E)
- 2000, c. 20, s. 23(E)
- 2024, c. 12, s. 9
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