Bill C-39's message to employers: No need to negotiate in good faith

“Here we have a government that denies workers their basic human right to take strike action to defend their economic interests. Yet, it is prepared to take the side of a very profitable company, CP Rail which made nearly $700 million last year, to help them attack the pensions of CP workers.” - James Clancy, NUPGE National President.

Ottawa (31 May 2012) - The Harper government's bias and increasingly interventionist approach to collective bargaining is sending a clear message to employers across the country that they no longer need to negotiate in good faith with unions, according to the Canadian Foundation for Labour Rights (CFLR).

CFLR was commenting on anti-union legislation passed by the Harper government early Wednesday morning. Bill C-39 – An Act to provide for the continuation and resumption of rail service operations ends the six-day strike between Canadian Pacific (CP) and its 4,800 employers represented by the Teamsters. Bill C-39 also imposes ridiculously high fines for non-compliance, and gives the Minister the unilateral right to select her favourite arbitrator while prohibiting the parties from challenging her selection.

Bill C-39 marks the fifth time in less than a year the Harper government has intervened in the collective bargaining process between a private sector employer and its unionized workers. On three of these occasions, the government passed back-to-work legislation (Canada Post, Air Canada and now CP Rail).

“The federal government might enjoy doing the bidding for employers on contentious issues at the bargaining table, like the pension issue in the CP Rail strike,” noted CFLR Board member and Ottawa-based labour lawyer, Paul Champ. “But their bully-like actions are doing nothing to solve workplace disputes. In fact, they end up creating more conflict, as well as reducing productivity gains that could have been shared by the employer and its workers”

“It's getting to a point where increasingly employers are joining with unions to oppose this interventionist approach to labour relations. Any person who works in the field of labour relations, whether you come from a union perspective or an employer perspective, knows that the best way to reconcile labour relations disputes is through the give and take process of collective bargaining.”

James Clancy, National President of the 340,000-member National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) and a member of CFLR board, noted the broader societal impact of the Harper goverment's biased interventionist approach to collective bargaining.

“Where is the fairness in this approach? It is no wonder we have growing income inequality in Canada. Look at this situation: here, we have a government that denies workers their basic human right to take strike action to defend their economic interests. Yet, it is prepared to take the side of a very profitable company, CP Rail which made nearly $700 million last year, to help them attack the pensions of CP workers.”

“Helping corporate shareholders get bigger dividends at the cost of pensioners will do nothing to bridge the huge income inequality gap that exists. Income equality is the biggest challenge our country faces and the response of our federal government is to increase it. Really, whose interests are they representing?”

More information:

Canadian Foundation for Labour Rights www.labourrights.ca

CFLR

The Canadian Foundation for Labour Rights (CFLR) is a national voice devoted to promoting labour rights as an important means to strengthening democracy, equality and economic justice here in Canada and internationally CFLR was established and sponsored by the National Union of Public and General Employees. CFLR