Mr. Speaker, today, March 20, 1995, marks a very troublesome day for those who depend on the railways and for those who must use the port of Montreal to get their products to customers.
Canadians are feeling the full effects of strikes and lockouts, and back to work legislation for the railways is in the works. We have been in this situation before. Last Wednesday we sat late debating Bill C-74, back to work legislation to settle the labour dispute on the west coast.
A little over a year ago we also debated back to work legislation with Bill C-10 to handle a similar dispute which lasted for 12 days.
Unfortunately these are not isolated incidents. Canadians have felt the effects of similar disruptions many times. I believe 13 have ended with back to work legislation in the past 30 years.
Unless both sides in the CP Rail dispute can reach an agreement some time very soon, we will be debating back to work legislation again today, tomorrow or soon.
I find it ironic that components of the grain handling and transportation system are consistently treated as essential services when work stoppages occur. I am here today to ask the government not to provide essential service legislation. I am asking the government to carefully consider the very positive impact of Bill C-262; the impact it would have in ameliorating recurring problems between labour and management.
Currently there is no effective collective bargaining taking place between labour and management. Both sides know they can depend on government to legislate them back to work. Let us not pretend we have productive collective bargaining taking place right now. We do not. Let us end the charade and do what Reformers called for in last year's emergency debate and what the hon. member for Lethbridge is currently calling for in his private member's bill, Bill C-262.
Bill C-262 provides a tool for both labour and management to prevent these disruptive and expensive work stoppages which affect people all across the country when they occur. The current work stoppage at CP Rail and at the Montreal port would not have happened if Bill C-262 were in place. These disruptions in grain handling and grain movement and in the movement of other goods must not be allowed to continue.
The collective bargaining process must be allowed to work where it can work. In the vast majority of cases, in situations between labour and management, they do reach agreement and the process works fairly well. In other cases the process does not work well. When this happens labour and management both lose. Unless an agreement is reached the operations will close down.
The case of grain handling and shipping is unique. It is unique because the cost of a disruption can and will be borne by farmers in three ways. First, added costs cannot be passed on to the consumer because farmers are price takers in a very competitive marketplace. Second, there is a loss of revenue in present sales
and, more important, in future sales through the loss of long term customers. Third, farmers have no real alternative. They have no way to get around the system. They must ship through the rail transportation and grain handling systems currently in place. They cannot choose to use another system which is offered by someone else because it does not exist.
That is why work stoppages should not be allowed in the grain handling system. I hope the hon. member for Mercier will now understand why stoppages in the grain handling system are so important and why they are every bit as important as the welfare and health of members of labour unions. The welfare and health of farmers is directly affected by these work stoppages. This is coming from someone who has lived and worked in agricultural communities through these disruptions over the years.
The extra stress caused by farmers being deprived of income makes one of the most dangerous businesses in the country today even more dangerous. By allowing these disruptions to happen continually farmers' health and welfare is affected every bit as much as members of the labour unions. I hope the member will now understand that the concerns of farmers and the stress and the danger to their health are every bit as important as that of labour union members.
How do we deal with the situation in a way that is fair to labour, to management, to the all too forgotten party, grain farmers, and alfalfa shippers and other shippers? Bill C-262 provides a solution through final offer selection arbitration. This process is triggered upon request by one party if the parties concerned are unable to reach an agreement through the collective bargaining process. The key features of this process as outlined in Bill C-262 are as follows.
The trade union and employer are requested to provide the minister with the name of a person they jointly recommend as arbitrator. The trade union and employer are required to submit to the arbitrator a list of matters agreed on and a list of matters still under dispute. For disputed issues each party is required to submit a final offer for settlement.
The arbitrator then selects either the final offer submitted by the trade union or the final offer submitted by the employer. In the event that one party does not submit a final offer, the other party's offer is automatically accepted. The arbitrator's decision is binding on both parties.
As you can see, final offer selection arbitration does not prevent the collective bargaining process from following through to a conclusion. It simply speeds the process up. However, it does prevent the very few from doing unacceptable damage to so many.
There are the other workers and the loss of work and income for the other workers shut down by the stoppage. There are the other businesses involved in grain handling and movement. There is the damage done to business enterprises and Canada's now faltering reputation as a reliable grain exporter. There are the farmers who must shoulder most of the costs for short and long term damage resulting from lost markets. They have no way of passing those costs on to the consumer or of recouping those losses.
Legislation that provides a long term solution to this problem should have been passed years ago. In this regard I would like to pledge continued leadership by Reform members of Parliament in continuing to press for long term solutions to this and similar problems in the grain handling system.
We cannot afford to have disruptions continue in the grain handling and transportation systems. I am asking for support for Bill C-262. Indeed in the past, several members of the government side and others have provided support for final offer selection arbitration.
I do not have time to read all the quotes, but these quotes are from the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food himself, and the Minister of Human Resources Development, and from the chief commissioner of the Canadian Wheat Board, Lorne Hehn. He stated that the grain industry cannot afford any more strikes and lockouts and said: "We cannot afford to shut down a multibillion dollar industry for the sake of a few people. I think that we have to do something about this situation".
Mr. Hehn went on to state that he would favour a first offer selection. "If an agreement could not be reached through the collective bargaining process," he said, "I think that would bring people to the table in a more honest fashion. We could settle these things without shutting the system down". I believe this first offer arbitration is much like the final selection process we are proposing here today.
The senior grain transportation committee voted on October 14, 1994 to support a system of final offer arbitration. It is down in black and white from members of this government.
The most effective way I can present the importance of stopping these disruptions in the future comes from farmers. My father lived through these disruptions in his farming career and each time I saw the stress and the pain. I know the hurt that caused him and his neighbours. As for myself, in my farming career I have lived through several of these disruptions. I know the pain and the loss these have caused my neighbours and myself.
Finally, I would like to stress that it is not only labour unions that are being tough on this issue. Farmers have threatened in the past-and there could come a time when this will happen-to take over the process of grain movement in any way they can on their own. Farmers will not let these disruptions continue indefinitely. They must stop. I encourage this government to
support Bill C-262 to ensure this is the end of these disruptions in grain handling and grain movement.