Mr. Speaker, the official opposition has submitted two related motions to make part I of the Canada Labour Code applicable to the Professional Institute of the Public Service, its members and the employers of those members, and the Public Service Alliance of Canada, its members and the employers of those members.
At the outset let me say that we have some difficulty understanding the purpose of the motions. It would appear that the purpose is to repeal the Public Service Staff Relations Act or, at the very least, significantly reduce the numbers of federal public service employees subject to the act. If that is the case-and let me say that such a proposal is unacceptable to the government-in essence these motions would bring 80 per cent of the public servants currently covered by the Public Service Staff Relations Act under part I of the code, leaving 20 per cent of the public service represented by the 14 other unions under the public service collective bargaining regime.
Quite frankly we fail to see the rationale behind these motions which would effectively split public servants into two groups: one covered by the private sector labour relations regime and the other covered by the public sector labour relations regime. The basis for such distinction escapes us.
While the task force established to review part I of the code did not address the issue of applying this statute to the federal public sector, it did note the potential for achieving benefits by consolidating the Public Service Staff Relations Board and the Canada Labour Relations Board. Although a merger of these two tribunals is not being proposed at this time, value and efficiencies could be realized in an administrative consolidation of the private and public sector boards.
Among the benefits that could be achieved through such rationalization we could easily identify cost savings for the boards, savings to the parties who would benefit from a single source, and harmonization of procedures which would eliminate unnecessary diversity in dealing with essentially similar topics and broader based coverage.
Although collective bargaining in the private sector and in the public sector have much in common, there are important distinctions which would require careful consideration before any decision to harmonize the two regimes is made.
In the private sector labour legislation is designed to regulate the relationship between private parties with economic power being the main disciplining mechanism. In the public sector the legislation is largely designed to take into account the government's role in protecting the public interest. Such fundamental differences have resulted in the application of separate labour relations regimes to govern employees in most Canadian jurisdictions.
The public service has been through some significant changes in the past 10 years as many of its activities have been removed to new forms of agencies outside the traditional public service or have been simply transferred to private or crown corporations. In those two last situations the collective bargaining of employees affected by such transfers is currently being governed by part I of the code.
Some would argue that these changes in the nature of the public service are the most persuasive reasons for revisiting the rationale for the creation and maintenance of the two separate legislative regimes. However we have to be careful before rushing into harmonization. Such an exercise would require extensive consultations of all the interested parties.
The minister has already expressed his intention to pursue further the analysis of the amalgamation and harmonization concepts with interested colleagues and parties.
For the reasons just outlined we ask the members of the House to reject both Motions Nos. 2 and 3 as they raise complex issues that were obviously overlooked by the official opposition and would require further study.