In Defence of the Right to Strike (Unblj Forum: Recent Developments in Canadian Labour and Employment Law‪)‬

In October 2007, the Canadian Autoworkers (CAW) signed ah historic deal with the automotive parts firm, Magna International, that gave up the right to strike in exchange for the opportunity for Magna employees to vote to join the CAW unimpeded by their employer. This voluntary concession of one of labour's fundamental rights sparked a furor of debate over the importance of the right to strike in contemporary industrial relations. Was this deal a sell-out of labour rights or a harbinger of innovation and change to labour-management relations in Canada? The CAW's concession of the right to strike carne at the very moment that the Autoworkers had joined with other unions in Nova Scotia to form a coalition of health care unions to defend the right to strike from provincial governments' attempts to remove health care workers' right to strike. Since then, the Ontario provincial government has ordered striking Toronto transit workers back to work while the newly elected federal Conservative government introduced an economic statement that included provisions to suspend federal government employees' right to strike.