Bank of Canada Defies Labour Law in Scab-Infested Lockout

A labour dispute between the Bank of Canada and its security officers has escalated into a major test of the country's anti-scab law. The Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) represents 49 security officers in Ottawa and Montreal who have been engaged in a labour dispute with the central bank since June. They are seeking fair wages, stable schedules, secure benefits, and protections against employer demands for concessions impacting seniority and maternity leave.

Instead of bargaining seriously, the Bank issued a lockout notice after months of failing to meet members' concerns and reach a settlement. The Bank has been employing private security guards as scabs to undermine striking PSAC members. Twice, the Canada Industrial Relations Board (CIRB) has concluded that the Bank of Canada has broken the law and ordered it to stop deploying scabs.

The CIRB's decisions against the Bank could have implications beyond this dispute or bargaining unit. The scab ban only came into force last year, and relatively few cases have reached the CIRB thus far. The Bank of Canada lockout therefore represents one of the earliest and potentially most important precedents establishing how aggressively the Board intends to enforce the anti-scab regime.