Yes, I can. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
I'd like to begin by thanking the committee for the invitation to participate in these consultations.
I am an individual who has worked for over 30 years in the labour relations field in the private sector and the public sector. For 20 of those years, I was the chief negotiator for the Government of Manitoba, for both the government as an employer and for a number of crown corporations and government agencies, so I have considerable experience with interest arbitration.
To be honest, I'm not a big fan of it. I find it interesting that there seems to be a lot of concern about the impact of this bill on collective bargaining, that there will be no meaningful bargaining. I think in an interest arbitration environment, it's pretty well documented that interest arbitration has a chilling effect on bargaining. That's the term that's used, and it's based on the tendency of arbitrators to split the difference between the parties' positions. I have found, and I think it's been well researched by others, that bargaining in an interest arbitration environment largely involves excessive demands, minimal compromise, and an attempt to have an arbitrator split the difference. There are some real problems associated with the impact of interest arbitration on collective bargaining.
In addition, there is a narcotic effect that has also been researched that talks about the tendency for parties who basically delegate their problems to an interest arbitrator to become addicted, for want of a better term, to that mechanism, so it can have a detrimental effect on the relationship between the parties.
When I look at the role of government, it seems to me that two things in particular are important. One is to protect the safety and security of the public, and the second is to be responsible with regard to the use of government funds. I don't believe government should negotiate the safety and security of the public, and I think the danger with that—and that's part of the existing process where there's a negotiation process—is that bargaining by its very nature has compromise. What that means is essentially the government and the unions are in a position where they are compromising the safety and security of one group of the public to the benefit of another. So compromise is not an appropriate mechanism when you're dealing with safety and security issues.
I don't really even believe that those issues should be delegated, for want of a better term, to a third party. A third party should not be imposing a compromise on safety and security issues. These are key issues; they are fundamental issues. I think that whether or not those issues are essential services and are subject to negotiation or third-party review, they are fraught with difficulty for the public.
With regard to the grievance arbitration process, or adjudication process, there's been some comment about that. I venture to say that if you started with a clean sheet of paper, you would not set up the existing system in the federal system to handle grievances. When I look at the ideal grievance procedure for individuals, it should be an efficient process to achieve final resolution of disputes. I think the changes that are being proposed will certainly increase efficiency, and they will better enable the parties to achieve a final resolution by avoiding some of the jurisdictional issues that have been problematic in the grievance arbitration process at the federal level.