MONTREAL - Air Canada employees staged a noisy but orderly protest against the federal government, accusing it of eroding workers' rights.

Outside Montreal's Trudeau airport, dozens of members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers blew whistles and plastic horns Monday to protest the government's decision to prevent them from going on strike.

A similar protest was held at Toronto's Pearson airport later in the day, the union said.

"We want to tell this government that it is anti-democratic," said Marcel St-Jean, president of the IAMAW Montreal local.

"They were elected democratically and all we want is that same democracy applied to us (and) that we have the right to negotiate a fair collective agreement for the membership."

The workers are upset that the Harper Tories have intervened several times in labour disputes, therefore weakening the position of employees as they negotiate new contracts.

Several carried placards marked, "Lisa Raitt, you're not right," in reference to the federal labour minister.

There was increased security at the Montreal airport; the employees were confined to a small area just outside the departures area and were surrounded by orange traffic cones.

St-Jean says that while workers are frustrated, they have no plans to disrupt operations and upset air travellers.

"We're not after the people, we're after the government and Air Canada," he said. "We just want a fair collective agreement."

Martin Noel brought his two-year-old son to the Montreal rally.

"We're not just fighting for our rights, we're fighting for our families," the 42-year-old baggage handler said. "I brought my son because I want to show that I'm a father and I have to take care of this little boy of mine and I really want him to have a nice future."

Stephanie Jaffres, an Air Canada flight attendant, joined her fellow workers at the late-morning rally: "We're supporting our friends at the IAMAW because we believe that Lisa Raitt should give them the right to strike."

Jaffres complained that the government was not letting private companies negotiate freely. She noted that Air Canada flight attendants ended up with an arbitrated contact that was imposed on them.

A union official said about 100 workers held a similar demonstration Monday afternoon at Pearson International Airport in Toronto.

Bill Trbovich, the IAMAW's director of communications, said they were protesting the fact that Air Canada has not returned to the table.

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• Labour Day: A Canadian Invention

  Few Canadians realize it, but Labour Day is as Canadian as maple bacon. It all began in 1872, when the Toronto Typographical Union went on strike to demand a nine-hour workday. When <i>Globe and Mail</i> chief George Brown had the protest organizers arrested, Prime Minister John A. Macdonald passed a law legalizing labour unions. Thus, a Conservative prime minister became a hero to the working class, and Canada became among the first countries to limit the workday, doing so decades before the U.S. The typographers' marches became an annual event, eventually being adopted by the U.S., becoming the modern day Labour Day.

• The Winnipeg General Strike

  The end of World War I brought social instability and economic volatility to Canada. On May 15, 1919, numerous umbrella union groups went out on strike in Winnipeg, grinding the city to a halt. Protesters were attacked in the media with epithets such as "Bolshevik" and "Bohunk," but resistance from the media and government only strengthened the movement. In June, the mayor ordered the Mounties to ride into the protest, prompting violent clashes and the death of two protesters. After protest leaders were arrested, organizers called off the strike. But the federal mediator ended up ruling in favour of the protesters, establishing the Winnipeg General Strike as the most important strike in Canadian history, and a precursor to the country's modern labour movement.

• The Regina Riot

  During the Great Depression, the only way for a single male Canadian to get government assistance was to join "relief camps" -- make-work projects set up by the federal government out of concern idle young men were a threat to the nation. The relief camps, with their poor work conditions, became breeding grounds for communists and other radicals. The "On-To-Ottawa Trek" was organized as a protest that would move from Vancouver across the country to Ottawa, to bring workers' grievances to the prime minister. The trek halted in Regina when Prime Minister R.B. Bennett promised to talk to protest organizers. When talks broke down, the RCMP refused to allow the protesters to leave Regina and head for Ottawa, and on June 26, 1935, RCMP riot officers attacked a crowd of protesters. More than 100 people were arrested and two killed -- one protester and one officer.

• Bloody Sunday

  In May, 1938, unemployed men led by communist organizers occupied a post office and art gallery in downtown Vancouver, protesting over poor work conditions at government-run Depression-era "relief camps." In June, the RCMP moved in to clear out the occupiers, using tear gas inside the post office. The protesters inside smashed windows for air and armed themselves with whatever was available. Forty-two people, including five officers, were injured. When word spread of the evacuation, sympathizers marched through the city's East End, smashing store windows. Further protests against "police terror" would be held in the weeks to come.

• Giant Mine Bombing

  In 1992, workers at Royal Oak Mines' Giant Mine in the Northwest Territories went on strike. On September 18, a bomb exploded in a mineshaft deep underground, killing nine replacement workers. Mine worker Roger Warren was convicted of nine counts of second-degree murder. The Giant Mine closed in 2004.

• The Toronto G20

  The Canadian Labour Congress, representing numerous labour groups, participated in protests in Toronto during the G20 summit in June, 2010. When a handful of "Black Block" anarchists rioted through the city core, it brought an overwhelming police response that resulted in the largest mass arrests in Canadian history. More than 1,000 people were arrested, with most never charged with any crime. Numerous allegations of police brutality have been made, and the Toronto police are now the target of several multi-million dollar lawsuits. So far, two police officers have been charged with crimes relating to G20 policing, and charges against other police officers are also possible.

• Occupy Canada

  When Vancouver-based magazine Adbusters suggested the public "occupy Wall Street" to protest corporate malfeasance, New Yorkers took the suggestion seriously, and occupied Zuccotti Park in Manhattan. Canadians followed suit, sparking copycat occupations in all major Canadian cities in September, 2011. By December, most of the occupations had been cleared, all of them non-violently. Though the protests achieved no specific goals, they did change the political conversation in North America. What their long-term legacy will be remains to be seen.