Unions in a bind as governments increasingly use arcane pieces of the law to quash strikes

In under three years, governments – both Conservative and Liberal, provincial and federal – have leaned on rarely used pieces of legislation to quash labour strikes at least 10 times.

The most recent example took place on Tuesday: The Alberta government invoked the notwithstanding clause in a back-to-work bill aimed at 51,000 school teachers who have been on strike since Oct. 6. The clause effectively shielded Bill 2, or the Back to School Act, from being challenged in court on Charter grounds, forcing teachers to return to classrooms and accept a collective agreement almost all of them had rejected.