Heavy-handed use of labour code has painted federal government into a corner, unions say

The federal government's repeated use of the Canada Labour Code to force picketing employees back to work has undermined its ability to end strikes while setting it up for a fight with Canada's labour movement, union officials and experts say.

Their comments come days after federal Jobs and Families Minister Patty Hajdu's failed move to send striking Air Canada flight attendants back to work and have the Canadian Industrial Relations Board (CIRB) step in and arbitrate their dispute with the airline.

The union representing the airline's 10,000 flight attendants defied the CIRB, saying its members would remain on strike until Air Canada returned to the table to continue negotiating.

"The fact that we didn't back down — the government and the company got the message that we weren't going t