On the subamendment that we proposed, we heard in testimony before the committee that the union is advocating putting a broad ban on replacement workers. They ask that employers be banned from bringing in other employees to work at the location where the strike or lockout is taking place. They also said they wanted to close loopholes by banning volunteers and other non-standard replacement workers. We agree with that part of what our colleague has put forward.
When employers bring employees from other work locations, it could undermine the prohibition by taking the focus away from the bargaining table. When there is a loophole, such as using volunteers, people lose faith in the law, and we don't want that. We want Bill C-58 to work, so we agree with that portion.
However, there are issues with the way the amendment is written when it comes to location. That's why we're happy to support this amendment with the subamendments we have proposed. In the second part, “family member” is difficult to define, and this would affect only the smallest business, but we understand why unions have concerns about volunteers, and that's why banning these volunteers would also create an additional check on the system so that there's no ambiguity about who will volunteer and who gets paid.
Basically what we're looking at is removing “family member” as defined. We agree with most of it, save and except a family member, such as somebody's wife who would come in during a strike. Most of our workplaces under the federally regulated system are larger, so I believe it's covering most of what the NDP put forward, save and except a family member. That's just the subamendment. We agree with everything, save and except including “family member”.