Patty Hajdu: “They have a labour shortage … in many areas of the country.”

In the past, if an employer was refusing to bargain or was removing things from previous offers or acting in a way that was not bargaining in good faith, the union members could talk about it, but they couldn't necessarily prove it,

I think the pressure is extremely high when it's in a transportation sector that is transporting essential goods, transporting perishable goods.

And that mediator's report — should it become public — is not going to be pleasant for a company's shareholders [or] their reputation in Canada and worldwide. Nobody wants to know that their shipper had a deal at the table and didn't pick…

The Liberals' proposed changes to the Canada Labour Code would bring some much-needed "sunlight" to collective bargaining in federally regulated sectors.