With the possibility of a Canada Post strike raising questions about potential government responses, Brock’s Department of Labour Studies is inviting the community to a free public webinar next week exploring labour action and state interventions.

“The Right to Strike Under Attack” is a panel discussion featuring Laura Walton from the Ontario Federation of Labour as well as Associate Professor Alison Braley-Rattai and Professor Larry Savage from Brock’s Department of Labour Studies.

Assistant Professor and event organizer Paul Gray says that when labour disruptions in Canada reached an 18-year high in 2023, workers saw what bargaining power could achieve but also witnessed governments deploying back-to-work legislation or forced interest arbitration in ways that could be described as “unprecedented.”

“We have even seen some unions choose to suspend their own right to strike, preferring instead a more bureaucratic process of binding arbitration, despite their history of collective bargaining,” says Gray. “We’re hosting this event because these actions, by government and some unions, have provoked widespread questions about the future of the right to strike.”

The event, co-hosted by Brock University and the Canadian Association for Work and Labour Studies (CAWLS), will be livestreamed Wednesday, Nov. 13 at 7 p.m. Tickets are free but advance registration is required.