Labour Minister Lisa Raitt says the government "can see an urgency" in preventing an Air Canada strike that it believes would be bad for Canadians, bad for workers and harmful to the economy.

Raitt tabled back-to-work legislation Monday in the House of Commons "to protect the Canadian economy and travelling public from a potential work stoppage at Air Canada," according to a statement from the Prime Minister's Office.

Few other details were released about the legislation, which was introduced Monday afternoon and fast-tracked for passage within two days.

Raitt said the government had no choice but to intervene and prevent a potential work stoppage by Air Canada employees while many families are on March Break vacations.

"We certainly see an urgency in the matter," Raitt told CTV's Power Play Monday evening.

"We see the fact that a work stoppage is going to affect the economy, it's going to affect the public interest, it's going to affect the workers at Air Canada, and that's exactly why we've introduced it today."

Raitt's intervention followed an Air Canada threat last week to lock out its pilots Monday and the union representing its mechanics, baggage handlers and ramp crews threatened to strike on the same day.

Last week, Raitt referred the disputes to the Canada Industrial Relations Board to see if a work stoppage would affect the health and safety of Canadians. That move kept planes in the air, and the back-to-work bill would prevent a work stoppage even after the CIRB issues its report.

The minister has used the move before to prevent a work stoppage by the airline's flight attendants.

Green Party Leader Elizabeth May agreed an Air Canada strike would be a major inconvenience to Canadians, but said the government had no business intervening in a union's legally mandated right to strike.

"Where does this stop? In this House we are undermining free and clear collective bargaining rights," May said in the House of Commons, adding that collective bargaining rights are an essential part of Canadian society.

Time allocation has been imposed on the legislation, with debate scheduled for Tuesday. The House does not sit next week, so the government is facing a tight timeline to get the bill through.

NDP labour critic Yves Godin accused the federal government of having "no respect for the working people."

"What bothers me the most is that every worker in this country has the right to negotiate freely a collective agreement," Godin told Power Play. "It's in the Charter of Rights. They have the right to go on strike as the company has the right to go on the lockout."

Godin added: "Our fathers, our grandfathers and our great-grandfathers fought in the streets to have those rights, and under this government here, off the top, they're just taking it out."

Liberal labour critic Rodger Cuzner said given the Conservative government's recent interventions in labour disputes with both Air Canada and Canada Post, the time has come for a discussion about whether the airline is considered an essential service.

He said labour relations have come to the point where the government's first reaction is to introduce a back-to-work bill.

"Regardless, the well had been poisoned prior to this," Cuzner told Power Play. "Air Canada knew that they were going to be coming with the hammer, with the back to work legislation. So the die was cast before this."

Meanwhile, Air Canada workers staged a rally to denounce the federal government on Monday at Montreal's Trudeau airport. A few dozen workers chanted "Lisa Raitt, you're not right" while blowing whistles and plastic horns to protest the government's decision.

The workers are upset the Conservatives have intervened several times in labour disputes, weakening unions' ability to negotiate contracts for their workers.

However, Raitt has said union bargaining teams have consistently recommended tentative agreements to their members, only to have the members reject those deals.

On Monday, Raitt urged all sides to keep the lines of communication open this week, but said, "I don't think we're going to see them at the table."