Agreed.
Restoring Mail Delivery for Canadians Act
An Act to provide for the resumption and continuation of postal services
This bill was last introduced in the 41st Parliament, 1st Session, which ended in September 2013.
This bill was last introduced in the 41st Parliament, 1st Session, which ended in September 2013.
Lisa Raitt Conservative
This bill has received Royal Assent and is now law.
This is from the published bill.
This enactment provides for the resumption and continuation of postal services and imposes a final offer selection process to resolve matters remaining in dispute between the parties.
All sorts of information on this bill is available at LEGISinfo, an excellent resource from the Library of Parliament. You can also read the full text of the bill.
Some hon. members
Agreed.
The Chair NDP Denise Savoie
(Amendment negatived)
We will apply the results of the previous clause to clause 9.
(Clause 9 agreed to)
[See list under Division 27]
(Yeas, 158; Nays, 112)
(On Clause 10)
On clause 10, an amendment has been moved by the hon. member for Windsor—Tecumseh:
That Bill C-6, in Clause 10, be amended (a) by replacing line 35 on page 3 with the following: "matters; and" (b) by replacing lines 38 to 40 on page 3 with the following:
of the new collective agreement.
Chris Charlton NDP Hamilton Mountain, ON
Madam Chair, I thank the member for Windsor—Tecumseh.
I am pleased to rise and speak in favour of this amendment. Our preference remains stopping the lockout and allowing the sides to return to free collective bargaining in accordance not only with the laws of our country, but also international conventions, UN resolutions and the long and proud tradition in most jurisdictions in the western world.
The union has offered, well before this legislation came forward, to return to work and bargain under the old contract. Instead, the government moved forward with this draconian and backward bill that would tie the hands of the arbitrator and damage labour relations both within Canada Post and across Canada.
The government has seen fit to impose a contract that is bad for our postal service and bad for the people who work so hard there to make it one of the best postal services in the world. The government tried to sneak in these objectionable terms quietly, hoping that the opposition would go quietly into the summer. It is basic to our democratic system that workers are allowed to engage in free collective bargaining.
We in the NDP are serving notice that we will not let the Conservative government quietly take away the rights of Canadians. We will not let it quietly launch an assault on the rights of working people to collective bargaining.
This amendment introduced by my friend and colleague from Windsor—Tecumseh helps untie the hands of the arbitrator so he or she can do the job he or she has been tasked with doing.
I am pleased to lend my support to this amendment and urge all hon. members to respect the working people and their constituents by supporting the amendment.
Some hon. members
Agreed.
The Chair NDP Denise Savoie
(Amendment negatived)
It seems that a second amendment to clause 10 has been proposed by the hon. member for Windsor—Tecumseh:
That Bill C-6, in clause 10, be amended by replacing line 41 on page 3 with the following:
"(2) The submissions referred to in subsection (1) must include"
Debate, the hon. member for Windsor--Tecumseh.
Joe Comartin NDP Windsor—Tecumseh, ON
Madam Chair, I only want to make one point. In one of those series of meetings that we did not have with the minister or her staff, it came out very clearly that the government has decided that any back to work legislation is going to contain final offer selection process. The Conservatives are so ideologically driven in so much of what they do and it shows up here. This amendment would clear the final offer selection process off the desk of the arbitrator allowing the arbitrator to do his or her job properly by allowing whatever is the proper methodology that would be instituted to get settlements as rapidly and efficiently as possible.
I want to make this final point. The amendments we have been trying to get through, and this one in particular, do not preclude the arbitrator on a specific issue from going to final offer selection process. If we narrow the issue down enough it can work, as we have seen in the professional sports situation. But here a methodology is being used in a broad sweep that does not work across the whole sector. It is a sledgehammer approach and it simply will not work. We will see abuses constantly coming forward.
I want to repeat that the government has now decided that all back to work legislation is going to contain this clause. We are going to have a regime of really bad collective agreements as a result of it.
Lisa Raitt ConservativeMinister of Labour
Madam Chair, it is important to point out that the concept of final offer selection is the most rapid and efficient one possible. That is why we have used it. Indeed that is why it was used in 1994 with respect to the west coast ports and in 2007 with respect to CN and the resumption of its service. This is not something new. Although I may not have the length and breadth of understanding of many years of the law, I certainly understand the most recent years of the law.
Some hon. members
Agreed.
No.
Some hon. members
Agreed.
The Chair NDP Denise Savoie
I declare this amendment defeated.
(Amendment negatived)
Shall clause 10 carry?
Some hon. members
Agreed.
On division.