Saskatchewan Federation of Labour (in its own right and on behalf of the unions and workers in the Province of Saskatchewan), Amalgamated Transit Union, Local 588, Canadian Office and Professional Employees’ Union, Local 397, Canadian Union of Public Employees, Locals 7 and 4828, Communications, Energy and Paperworkers’ Union of Canada and its Locals, Health Sciences Association of Saskatchewan, International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, Moving Picture Technicians, Artists and Allied Crafts of U.S., its Territories and Canada, Locals 295, 300 and 669, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Locals 529, 2038 and 2067, Saskatchewan Government and General Employees’ Union, Saskatchewan Joint Board Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, Saskatchewan Provincial Building & Construction Trades Council, Teamsters, Local 395, United Mine Workers of America, Local 7606, United Steel, Paper and Forestry, Rubber, Manufacturing, Energy, Allied Industrial and Service Workers International Union and its Locals, and University of Regina Faculty Association v. Her Majesty The Queen in Right of the Province of Saskatchewan, 2015 SCC 4
This constitutional labour appeal addressed whether a statutory prohibition on designated essential-services employees striking substantially interfered with meaningful collective bargaining under s. 2(d) of the Charter.
The Court held that the right to strike is an indispensable component of meaningful collective bargaining, and that the statutory scheme’s unilateral employer designations and lack of a meaningful impasse-resolution substitute rendered the infringement unjustified under s. 1.
The declaration of invalidity concerning the essential-services regime was suspended for one year.
The companion challenge to amendments governing union certification, decertification, and employer communications was dismissed.
