The Canadian government wants to see an end to collective bargaining.

That’s according to one labour expert who says the Conservatives continued intervention in some disputes is evidence the government has a clear approach to policy.

Queen’s University Assistant Professor Robert Hickey says they appear to be consistent when it comes to federal jurisdiction.

“I think we see a trend to further curtail free collective bargaining and whether it’s air transportation or the TTC being legislated as an essential service,” he says. “We’re seeing pretty dramatic restrictions on parties.”

He says in most cases both parties would rather solve their dispute themselves than risk ending up with a worse alternative like Canada Post.

Hickey says government officials are not shy about intervening in disputes and feel they should intervene early.

However intervention before both parties enter a dispute, as is the case with Air Canada, would be equal to deeming the employees an essential service.

He believes if banks had stronger unions or representation, we would see legislation even in the financial sector as well.