Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time with my hon. colleague, the member for Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie.
I want to explain the crisis at the Port of Montreal in clear and simple terms. The workers at the Port of Montreal want a collective agreement. That is their right, just as they have the right to negotiate that agreement freely. The Liberal government wants to prevent them from negotiating freely by introducing legislation that will force them back to work. That is the situation, explained in simple terms.
Workers have a right. It is a fundamental and essential right that allows them to do their jobs. It is essential that we support them and that we support their right to bargain freely. When the Liberal government, or any other government, prevents these negotiations from taking place, it hurts workers and violates their rights. To create a just society, we must support the process and support free negotiations.
What the government is proposing is exactly what former Conservative governments did. It is exactly what this government did with Canada Post workers. We clearly see once again that the Liberal government and the Prime Minister do not stand up for workers' interests. The decision to introduce back-to-work legislation is unfair and wrong and will harm society in general.
The Liberals have shown once again that they are no different than the Conservatives and that they are turning their backs on workers to the benefit of businesses. The government will say that is not true, that there is now a crisis and that if workers fight for their rights, that will negatively affect the rest of society.
However, the workers at the Port of Montreal want to defend their working conditions, not hurt our society. The spokesperson for local 375 of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, or CUPE, stated, “We don't want to hurt the Montreal economy. However, we do want to exercise our fundamental right to bargain collectively.”
The national president of CUPE wrote to the Prime Minister to tell him that it is impossible to negotiate fairly and in good faith under the threat of back-to-work legislation since such legislation completely destabilizes the balance of power between the parties. The legislation that we are debating will completely destabilize the balance of power between the parties.
Workers are prepared to negotiate. The Liberals need to withdraw their back-to-work legislation and let workers defend their rights at the negotiating table. We are once again asking the government not to intervene and to let the parties freely negotiate in order to come to a better agreement. I repeat: It is their right to do so. It is only through bargaining that employees will be able to obtain safer and fairer working conditions.
What is going is very clear. Workers at the Port of Montreal want to negotiate a collective agreement. That is their right. They should be able to do that freely. The Liberals, the government and the Prime Minister are undermining their ability to freely negotiate. They are undermining the fundamental rights of workers to negotiate their collective agreement. This is absolutely wrong.
Forcing these workers back to work when they are in the midst of a negotiation would completely upset the negotiations. It completely undermines the process. It takes away the rights of the workers to fight for their basic rights. It is the wrong thing to do. It is obviously going to mean that the employer is not going to want to negotiate fairly when an announcement is made that there is going to be back-to-work legislation. What is the motivation for the employer to negotiate in good faith now? It is the wrong thing to do.
Workers at the Port of Montreal have been very clear that they do not want to hurt the economy; they just want to negotiate a fair deal. The national president of CUPE wrote to the Prime Minister and made it clear that by putting forward this legislation, it would directly undermine the negotiation and negatively impact the workers' ability to get a fair deal. The workers are ready to negotiate; they are negotiating right now,
The Liberals must withdraw this legislation. It is the wrong thing to do and it does not help anyone. In fact, the only way there are good conditions for all of Canada when it comes to the work done at ports is when the workers are respected, when they are given the dignity to have the ability to collectively negotiate and when there are free and fair collective agreements. When there are free and fair collective agreements and workers are respected and able to do their jobs, all of Canada benefits.
When workers are undermined and disrespected, it will hurt not just the process and the workers but everyone. It is not a good condition for work when workers are being disrespected like this.
Obviously, the New Democrats are opposed to this and are calling on the government and the Prime Minister to immediately withdraw the legislation.
Time and time again, the Liberals say they are the friends of workers. They are doing exactly what the Conservative Party would have done by bringing in back-to-work legislation so early in the negotiation process. It is so wrong to do, and is always wrong to do, but it is particular heinous when they are in the midst of negotiations.
I again want to be clear. We are asking the Liberal government and the Prime Minister not to intervene in the workers' ability to negotiate and work toward a collective agreement. That is their right and it should be defended and protected.
We know that when workers are able to freely negotiate their contracts and agreements, they are able to ensure that good protections, good work hours and safety are in place. We want to be leaders in ensuring that we set the precedent that at the federal level, workers are supported and protected and not being forced back to work. The New Democrats again call on the government to withdraw the legislation, to stop its undermining of workers and, instead, to stand up for workers and protect their rights. These are difficult times and in difficult times, we expect the government to stand with workers.
We have seen the Liberal government again and again side with large corporations. It said no to taxing the ultra-rich, it said no to taxing web giants, it said no to removing profit from long-term care, it said no to changing Revera, the second-largest long-term care home provider in Canada, from a for-profit company and making it public. It continues to show a pattern of behaviour. It said no to universal pharmacare, which, again, it stood up for big pharma. There has again and again been a pattern of behaviour where the Liberal government continues to defend the rights and interests of large and powerful corporations over the interests of people and workers.
Enough is enough. The government should withdraw the legislation and let the workers negotiate. They will able to obtain a good contract that is in the best interests of workers and in the best interests of Canadians.