Brian R. Burrows

Appeal from an Alberta labour reference concerning whether statutory prohibitions on strikes and lockouts, coupled with compulsory arbitration for public servants, hospital employees, firefighters, and police officers, infringed freedom of association under s. 2(d) of the Charter.

The majority held that s. 2(d) protects the freedom to associate but does not constitutionalize collective bargaining or the right to strike, and therefore the impugned provisions were not inconsistent with the Constitution Act, 1982.

The dissent would have held that s. 2(d) protected collective bargaining and strike activity, subject to s. 1, and that the impugned schemes were not justified except potentially for truly essential services.

The appeal was dismissed, with the constitutional questions answered against the appellants except that the final abstract exclusion question was not answered.

The appellant union challenged the federal Public Sector Compensation Restraint Act, which extended collective agreements and fixed wage increases for public sector employees, arguing it violated freedom of association under s. 2(d) of the Charter and equality before the law under s. 1(b) of the Canadian Bill of Rights.

The Supreme Court of Canada dismissed the appeal.

The majority held that the guarantee of freedom of association does not include a constitutional guarantee of the right to bargain collectively and the right to strike.

The Court also found no violation of the Canadian Bill of Rights, as the legislation was directed at a valid federal objective of dampening inflationary expectations.