Mr. Speaker, this group contains an essential motion by the Bloc, one which ought to have come from the government itself. I refer to the proposal to prohibit replacement workers, or "scabs", the anti-scab or anti-replacement worker clause.
This clause is sorely lacking in a bill which has pretensions of being modern, which is supposed to establish new working conditions for businesses which require worker participation if they are to be productive. If one reads current management manuals, that is what they all say, but the revamped labour code will not have that effect, but indeed the opposite.
The fact that there is no clause, no section to prevent the use of replacement workers-their use is legalized to some extent instead-accentuates the temptation to resort to violence to solve problems. This is found throughout the code, which is decidedly far from modern.
As I have said several times already, and I repeat, in 1977 the Parti Quebecois of the time, and its Minister of Labour, Pierre-Marc Johnson, adopted anti-strikebreaker legislation despite the loud objections of a number of employers. These clauses brought about the social peace for which everyone today takes the credit.
When Premier Bourassa was re-elected in 1985, he was pressured by employers to drop the clause, which had been adopted by the Parti Quebecois, but he took care not to do so.
He told employers in no uncertain terms that labour peace was now a fact, that it was worth a lot and that government was not about to backtrack and reinstate conditions that had led to violent strikes that went on forever.
I used the word violent, and we should realize that when workers have a union, often after a hard time getting certification, and the bargaining process is unsuccessful, they must go on strike. For instance, when there is a strike and workers see that other workers are being hired-I have nothing against people who take that kind of job because we know jobs are scarce-to replace those who are
on strike because they want to improve their circumstances and get the respect and the recognition their union deserves.
When other workers are hired to replace these strikers, to remove any leverage they have, to ensure that goods produced before the strike are shipped or whatever else has to be done, inevitably some workers are going to get very angry. When these strikes go on for any length of time, circumstances may cause them to do things they should not.
For society as a whole, using replacement workers is bad, it sets a poor example and adversely effects labour relations. If there is a settlement, there may be deep wounds that leave lasting scars. This has nothing to do with what we call new labour relations. This is more like the law of the jungle.
So a labour code does what? It tries to make the bargaining process as civilized as possible. At this point I can inform hon. members who think they can solve everything with their final offer that they have not the remotest idea what labour relations are all about. We must recognize the fact that in a company, especially in big companies and increasingly in small businesses, workers want to bargain collectively with their employer, and for this purpose they want to be recognized as a unit. The unit can then negotiate in good faith with the employer and, if need be, avail itself of the right to strike.
However, they want to negotiate on the basis of their own needs, and not play heads or tails with the employer's proposals and some union plan. It would take too long to explain that this can never be a solution and can never replace the bargaining process.
To get back to replacement workers, there is a huge gap in this bill, and in committee we again begged the government to do something and we made our own proposals to ensure that at the very least, when essential services are at stake, the use of replacement workers is prohibited.
Here, however, the bill is so twisted that an employer, and I have read the text over and over, could both force strikers to work in order to provide essential services and use replacement workers.
This would be one of those moments of conflict I mentioned that nobody should have to face.
Unfortunately, this bill recognizes replacement workers and does not prohibit their use, even in this totally untenable situation where strikers in essential services would have to work together with replacement workers. The only provision we can view positively to any extent, and I hesitate to say so, because the other omissions are so serious that the fact of saying that the workers in the bargaining unit before the replacement workers must be rehired will not soothe many wounds.
It is sad, more than sad, it is shocking to see that, when the minister promised-and it is a promise that affected the promise to modernize the Canada Labour Code-rather than modernize the Canada Labour Code, instead of adapting it to new labour relations, to permit new labour relations, instead of considering unions for what they are-ever more reasonable partners in the management of businesses-the Canadian code establishes rules that will quickly bring back the law of the jungle, repeatedly throughout the bill.
It is sad and shocking, but worse than that, it will produce effects the government will regret. However, it is not the government that will regret it, but rather the people who will have to deal with it. That is the really annoying part.
In closing, I would simply like to say that, as far as employment insurance is concerned, we predicted there would be a mountain of problems. Now we have them, and the minister, in a panic, is forced to announce improvements here and there, because, quite simply, it did not make sense. The government does not listen. It is arrogant; it thinks it knows everything and produces bill after bill that even it knows will not achieve the aims set for them.