Canada Post workers face legislation

The Harper government introduced back-to-worklegislation Monday to end the Canada Post labour dispute and warned it is prepared to limit debate in Parliament to get the bill passed into law as early as this week.

Opposition parties immediately blasted the Tories for carrying through with its threat to table the bill. They say the government is interfering in the negotiations between Canada Post and its workers and should give time for the talks to play out.

The NDP and Liberals said they expect extensive debate in the Commons over the bill and aren't in a rush for it to come to a vote -even if the House is scheduled to rise for its summer break on Thursday.

But federal Labour Minister Lisa Raitt indicated the government is in no mood for a prolonged debate.

"I believe that we're going to put our best efforts in terms of whatever process we can use in order to get back-to-work legislation through before the House rises," she told reporters after tabling the bill. "Canadians want certainty. They want to know that their mail's going to continue to be delivered or it starts to be delivered once again and that's what we're here for."

When asked if the government is prepared to forcibly curtail debate -known as closure -so that the bill can be passed by Thursday, Raitt said that this is how backto-work-legislation has been adopted in past years.

"I see no reason why we wouldn't be doing the same thing again."

Still, Raitt said she is hopeful that Canada Post and the union reach a deal on their own before the law is passed. The bill will likely put pressure on one, or both, sides to do just that.

Under the legislation, Canada Post would have to end its lockout and employees would be required to perform their normal work routine. An arbitrator would be appointed by the federal government and both sides in the dispute would put forward their best proposal in the contract dispute on the table. The arbitrator would then choose one of the two positions -with no compromise -and it would become the binding decision that both parties have to accept.

Raitt said the postal negotiations have gone on a long time without resolution, and the bill is an example of "the danger of asking Parliament to settle your dispute."

NDP labour critic Yvon Godin chastised the government, saying that the ultimate loser will be the postal workers. That's the argument the party is going to make to the government and to Canadians in a bid to delay or possibly kill the legislation, he said.

"We want to oppose it. This is wrong legislation. People have the freedom of joining the union, they have freedom of free bargaining," Godin said.

The two sides in the dispute met Monday afternoon to continue talks. More meetings are scheduled for this morning, said Canada Post spokesman Jon Hamilton, but talks are moving slowly.

? Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citizen

Source: http://feeds.canada.com/~r/canwest/F293/~3/IThXqB4QgFI/story.html

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