Collective Bargaining is a Charter Right - An Analysis

Lawyers Valerie Matthews Lemieux (Manitoba) and Steven Barrett (Ontario) have recently written an analysis piece respecting Collective Bargaining and the Right to Strike for the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives entitled: Charter Protection Extended to Collective Bargaining – How Far Does it Reach? (download the full document in Adobe PDF format here).

It raises serious legal questions about the authority of any government to unilaterally (and especially without broad and meaningful consultation) fetter workers Collective Bargaining Rights, and by extension the Right to Strike - which is an integral element of the collective bargaining process.

The analysis is offered against the backdrop of the recent Supreme Court of Canada decision (June 2007 - HEU B.C.) which enshrined collective bargaining as a Charter Right.

Valerie Matthews Lemieux practices labour and aboriginal law through her own law corporation in Manitoba. She was co-counsel for the AG Manitoba in the original labour trilogy. Steven Barrettt is managing partner at Sack Goldblatt Mitchell in Ontario. He was co-counsel for the Canadian Labour Congress in the recent Health Services case.