The NDP introduced legislation Monday that they said would close a “loophole” in the Canadian Labour Code that allows employers to use managers as replacement workers during strikes and lockouts.

The bill comes after a months-long Rogers strike in Abbotsford, B.C., where managers from across the country were brought in to perform work normally done by striking technicians. 

In the last Parliament, the Liberals partnered with the New Democrats to pass legislation banning the use of replacement workers during work stoppages in federally-regulated sectors.

But this doesn’t prevent employers from calling in out-of-town managers to pick up work during strikes or lockouts.

The NDP said new legislation is needed to close this loophole and protect workers’ right to strike.

“That protection is being violated in practice when employers are able to bring in managers from other locations to perform the work of striking or locked out employees, it distorts the balance of power at the bargaining table,” Davies said at a press conference on Parliament Hill. 

READ MORE: Interim NDP leader Don Davies to join striking Rogers technicians on the picket line in Abbotsford, B.C. 

The work stoppage in Abbotsford saw 25 technicians on strike for over four months in 2025. It ended last October. 

Michael Philips, president of United Steel Workers Local 1944, which represented the technicians, joined Davies and NDP Leader Avi Lewis at the press conference. 

He said while union was able to eventually reach a deal with Rogers, the strike lasted “far too long” due to the loophole. 

“Rogers have been paying these technicians about 10 per cent less than they had paid their other technicians in the same area doing the same work,” said Philips.

“Workers and their families suffered because they were on strike,” Philips said. “The community suffered by having subpar telecom service from Rogers.” 

Asked if the prospect of employers bringing in managers to fill in for striking and lockdown workers were considered when drafting the original legislation, Davies punted the responsibility to former labour critic Alexandre Boulerice, who was in direct negotiations with the government then. 

Davies added that the Liberals originally only wanted the anti-scab law to apply in lockouts. 

“We, of course, refused that and said that anti-scab legislation must apply in all labour disputes,” he said. 

“I can only assume the Liberals deliberately wrote that law in such a way that they provided this loophole to their corporate friends, so that they would have a way out.”

Davies’ bill also comes in tandem with NDP MP Leah Gazan’s legislation that aims to eliminate Section 107 from the labour code, provision that Gazan has accused the Liberal government of misusing eight different times to break strikes.

Gazan’s Bill C-247 was introduced after the Liberals’ most recent use of s. 107, in response to a strike by Air Canada flight attendants last fall.

“CEOs in places like Air Canada are raking in the profits, giving themselves raises, so I don’t have a lot of faith in this government to respect the rights of workers,” Gazan told iPolitics in April. 

“It’s no secret that this government is run by corporations.”

The bill is currently at second reading in the House of Commons.