Canada Post, union have until Thursday to reach deal

AMY MINSKY
Postmedia News

Canada Post and its locked-out employees have until Thursday to reach an agreement before Parliament resumes the battle over, and possibly votes on, the government’s plan to force union members back to work.

Clashing management and union members were at the negotiating table Tuesday as parliamentarians wrangled over the implications of the legislation Labour Minister Lisa Raitt introduced one day earlier.

The House of Commons debate began with a quick look at a motion that would limit discussion, speeding up the passage of the bill and getting postal workers back on the job in time for MPs to check out for summer vacation.

The Conservatives said they are eager to push the back-to-work bill through because with every day the strike is unresolved, Canada’s economy is increasingly threatened.

But opposition MPs say the government is forcing a heavy hand into business better left to the disputing parties. “The minister clearly undermined free collective bargaining,” said NDP whip Chris Charlton. “This is about a fundamental right of workers. It’s about free collective bargaining. We should not be negotiating that away in this House.”

Both Liberal and New Democrat MPs demanded the government answer why Raitt used the back-to-work bill to impose wages -an action that has the postal union up in arms, because the proposed wages are lower than the most recent offer Canada Post put on the table.

Following the debate, NDP leader Jack Layton suggested the government is sending a dangerous message.

“Is the prime minister signalling to workers that if they don’t accept the first offer that is given by management, that the Conservatives will simply come and legislate something worse?” Layton asked.