Mr. Chair, this amendment is key in this whole section. It speaks to maintaining dispute mechanisms in collective bargaining. It allows unions to choose whether they want to go to binding arbitration or whether they want conciliation. These kinds of services have been established in our labour relations process for decades. They've served us well. They provide checks and balances, and the goal is always to foster a negotiated agreement and prevent labour disputes. Generally in our federal jurisdiction, it has been pretty successful in performing that function. It's not perfect; every so often, there is a dispute, but it provides every opportunity to try to resolve problems, freely negotiated between the two parties.
Eliminating binding arbitration will provoke more labour disputes. One could argue that's why the government wants to be able to designate vast swatches of workers as essential services. They don't have to sit down and reasonably negotiate, find compromise, find solutions that will actually work well in people's lives. They can be more dictatorial and suppress opposition by using the essential worker designation. I hope that's not the case, but it begs the question, otherwise, why all these changes? What will the outcome be?
We think there are a number of changes here, whether it's altering the information people can use, denying them information, extending the notice to bargain to one year. We are concerned that a longer timeframe may, in fact, provoke more disputes. We think that by undermining this process, really, without good reasons that we've heard, it's ultimately going to lead to more labour disputes. We don't think that's good for Canadians, and we don't think that undermining people's rights is good for Canadians.
Public servants work hard. They go to work every day. They pay their taxes. They do a good job for Canadians. We don’t think they should be denied the rights that are available to other people.