Mr. Speaker, members of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers have a legitimate concern that the arbitration process set up to settle their contract dispute with Canada Post has been irredeemably damaged by the arbitrator himself. Remarks made by the arbitrator suggest that in advance of hearing the union's position he has already made up his mind on certain issues and leans heavily in favour of the corporation's position.
The Canadian Union of Postal Workers has asked the federal court to remove the arbitrator in view of its “reasonable apprehension of bias”. From the beginning of this contract dispute there have been serious concerns that bargaining in good faith had been compromised by a government holding the threat of back to work legislation over the heads of the union.
Given the fact that the recent remarks of the arbitrator, Justice Guy Richard, have totally undermined the credibility of the arbitration process, the NDP today urges the Minister of Labour to disqualify the arbitrator, give Canada Post a mandate to negotiate and allow the parties to get back to the table to negotiate a fair settlement through free collective bargaining.