Impacts of Strike Replacement Bans in Canada

In the labor relations area no issue generates as much controversy and division between labor and management as does the legislative ban on replacement workers. In the United States, the issue of a ban on permanent replacement workers has come before Congress four times since 1988, although the only action taken has been an executive order in 1995, banning the government from doing business with firms that use permanent replacements. In Canada, where labor matters are under provincial jurisdiction, legislative bans on permanent replacement workers exist in most jurisdictions (except New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island), either directly or indirectly by mandating that striking workers have the right to their job once the strike is over -- they cannot be permanently replaced by replacement workers who may have been temporarily hired during the strike. The more stringent ban on the use of temporary replacement workers also has been in place in Quebec since 1978, in British Columbia since 1993, and in Ontario between 1993 and 1995. This paper estimates the impacts of these bans in Canada.