Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise and speak on private member's motion No. 405.
Motion No. 405 applies to employers such as Marine Atlantic, operating a freight or passenger service between North Sydney, Nova Scotia and Port-aux-Basques, Newfoundland. The motion requires that, during a strike or lockout, the employer, its employees and their bargaining agent would continue to provide those services. A process of final offer selection arbitration would be used to settle the outstanding issues in the dispute.
The Canada Labour Code, to which this motion applies, covers many industries in the federal jurisdiction, including ferry services. Therefore, when the hon. member for Wetaskiwin talks of providing for the settlement of labour disputes in Canada by final offer selection arbitration, an imposed settlement, he is talking about a subject that this government takes very seriously.
It is very important that ferry services between these two provinces be maintained, however I cannot support this motion because I do not feel an imposed labour settlement is ever the best choice.
First, the labour relations community does not support any general system of imposed solutions to collective bargaining issues. In fact, final offer selection arbitration has been used to only a very limited extent in Canada. Its lack of use speaks volumes to its popularity and general acceptability to both employers and employees.
It is important to note that the federal government has only used final offer selection arbitration on one occasion as a means to end a dispute. In this case the only issue in the dispute was a narrow difference in wage rates.
To clarify the terminology in its simplest form, final offer selection arbitration is a situation whereby disagreeing parties submit their final offers for resolution of all outstanding issues in a labour dispute. An arbitrator is then required to choose either the employer's offer or the union's offer, which becomes the final award. While there are variations on this model, the key point here is that the arbitrator must choose the proposal of one of the parties.
Final offer selection arbitration by its very nature creates winners and losers, which does very little to foster positive relations. It is a very rigid method of settling a dispute that has never been popular in cases where the issues are multiple or complex.
Canada's long history of honouring the collective bargaining process, a process of give and take, dates back roughly 100 years and has served this country well.
There is a long tradition in Canada of labour legislation and policy designed for the promotion of the common well-being through the encouragement of free collective bargaining and the constructive settlement of disputes. Free collective bargaining is an important process as it allows for compromise. There is a meaningful process of constructive dialogue for which final offer selection arbitration does not allow.
This government desires to continue to extend its support to labour and management in a co-operative effort to develop good relations and constructive collective bargaining practices, and deems the development of good industrial relations to be in the best interest of Canadians.
An additional point involves the federal mediation and conciliation service of the labour program. This mediation service has many programs in place to assist in the negotiations of collective agreements. In fact, if two parties cannot come to an agreement, the federal mediation and conciliation service offers programs and services that settle more than 90% of all federal jurisdiction labour disputes without a work stoppage. These numbers are very telling of the success of the current system of collective bargaining.
Another telling argument on the success of the system is that the parties mentioned in Motion No. 405 already have agreed to settle this dispute. The latest rounds of bargaining between Marine Atlantic, the CAW and the Canadian Merchant Service Guild ended with all parties agreeing to settle via binding arbitration. Surely the hon. member recognizes that the success of this case, as well as that of countless others, questions the validity of the motion.
I would like to point out that while final offer selection arbitration can ensure regular settlement of labour disputes without resort to strike or lockout action, another negative impact of passage of the motion would be the alienation of this part of the industry. That is, the motion would result in unequal treatment in comparison to the many other ferry services operating around the country. Employers and unions of every other ferry service in Canada would continue to have the right to engage in free collective bargaining while the settlements at North Sydney and Port-aux-Basques would be imposed. There is something not quite right with that scenario.
Free collective bargaining is something that is enshrined in the Canada Labour Code and it is a right that the government cannot revoke simply because an employer and a union are having trouble agreeing. Both Canadian employers and unions prefer to frame their own collective agreements rather than have solutions imposed upon them by third parties. It is also meaningful to consider that the motion has the very real potential of poisoning any future attempts at fostering positive relations between the two parties.
The Government of Canada will continue to support labour policy and legislation designed to promote the common well-being of Canadians through the encouragement of free collective bargaining and the constructive settlement of disputes. This private member's motion is directly contrary to this aim.
A further crucial aspect everyone must understand is that part I of the Canada Labour Code expressly guarantees the right of parties to submit collective bargaining disputes to any form of binding settlement they want, including final offer selection arbitration. This means that if they so choose, the parties mentioned in Motion No. 405 could voluntarily submit to final offer selection arbitration on their own. The option already is there.
To summarize, final offer selection arbitration is not supported by the labour relations community. By its very nature, it creates a win-lose situation, whereas free collective bargaining can create a win-win situation. Imposing final offer selection arbitration on two parties does not even attempt to foster co-operative labour management relations, which is significant in today's ever changing workplace. All it would do is alienate this part of the ferry industry, imposing upon it a different standard than the rest of the sector.
This private member's motion is contrary to government policy which supports and encourages free collective bargaining. Part I of the Canada Labour Code already provides the option of choosing final offer selection arbitration as the mechanism to resolve a dispute. I do not believe that it is in the best interests of those involved to have this option imposed upon them.