Labour Minister Seamus O’Regan tabled new labour legislation Thursday proposing a ban on replacement workers, a commitment under the terms of the minority Liberals’ confidence-and-supply deal with the NDP. Bill C-58, entitled “An Act to amend the Canada Labour Code and the Canada Industrial Relations Board Regulations, 2012” seeks to ban the use of replacement workers when a union employer in a federally-regulated industry has locked out employees or is in the midst of a strike. The backgrounder outlines the amendments which include preventing employers from using employees and managers hired after notice to bargain is given to do the work of striking or locked out workers. Contractors, regardless of when they were hired, would also be prohibited from doing the work of striking or locked out employees. The minister is also framing the move as “the biggest thing to happen to collective bargaining in Canada, in decades.” According to the federal government, about 22,350 employers and and just over one million employees operate in the federally regulated private sector. About 34 per cent of those employees are unionized.