Rail employees are back on the job today after the Canada Industrial Relations Board imposed binding arbitration over the weekend on all parties involved.
But Jessica McCormick, president of the Newfoundland and Labrador Federation of Labour, believes the ruling sets a dangerous precedent for all unions.
“It tells other governments across the country that they can do the same,” she said, adding binding arbitration imposes a collective agreement on workers who she says have been bargaining in good faith since November.
The Teamsters union is planning to challenge the decision in court.
McCormick believes they will be fighting not just on behalf of rail workers, but for all unions and their workers.
She says an argument could be made in all rounds of collective bargaining that the issue is of such national or provincial significance that similar steps are needed.
She says if employers are interested in maintaining fair collective bargaining, deals must be reached at the table, and they shouldn’t wait for government to “swoop in” and settle it for them.