House of Commons Hansard #134 of the 39th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was workers.

Topics

Railway Continuation Act, 2007Government Orders

7:35 p.m.

NDP

Catherine Bell NDP Vancouver Island North, BC

Mr. Speaker, I stand today to oppose this draconian piece of back to work legislation. I want to echo some of the comments made by my comrades and colleagues from Timmins—James Bay, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, Victoria, Burnaby—New Westminster and Parkdale—High Park. Some of them talked about their families and their long and proud history of building this country. Their forefathers and foremothers who worked in the rail industry and other industries built this country.

I want to talk a bit about my parentage. My grandfather and father were loggers and built the small communities of northern Vancouver Island. They worked very hard to shape the industry that we see today. It is appropriate and relevant that I talk about this to underscore my opposition to this back to work legislation, as my colleagues have done before me.

My grandfather and father worked in the logging industry. They worked in small camps where there were a lot of health and safety issues. Everywhere they went they tried to make things better for workers down the line and people who were coming after them. They fought tooth and nail, and had to go on strike under really difficult conditions to make sure that workers' rights were brought to the forefront, so that people were not killed on the job, as many were in those days.

I grew up in a family that was very much aware of worker and workplace safety. I grew up in a family that was very political. Because of that, I became a union activist myself. I was very active in the labour movement for quite a long time advocating for workers. I was on bargaining committees. In my own workplace we went on strike and had been locked out. I know what it is like to be on a picket line with workers who are in adverse circumstances trying to make a difference for other workers and standing up for the rights that others behind them will enjoy because they may not. Those are things that labour activists do.

I have heard in the House other hon. members talk about the age old argument, which we just heard a few moments ago, of pitting workers against one another saying, “We have to resolve this because others are suffering”. That is an age old argument that has been used by employers and managers for many years. It does not wash. It is a bogus argument. It allows employers to get off the hook and not have to do the right thing, which is bargain in good faith.

Again, my history as a labour activist is very relevant to underscore my opposition to this back to work legislation. Back to work legislation is never the right thing to do. I and my NDP colleagues oppose this. We oppose replacement worker legislation or any other kind of legislation that undermines the fundamental right to collective bargaining.

Railway workers are locked out. This is a legal labour dispute. The government had a choice. It could have chosen to send CN back to the bargaining table, but it did not. Instead, it chose to deny workers their right to free collective bargaining. If the government were really concerned about the economy, it would order CN back to the bargaining table to get serious about bargaining. Instead, CN is given the green light by the government to take advantage of workers once again.

Canadians are concerned about worker safety just as much as they are concerned about the economy. The economy should not take precedence over worker safety. We have seen this scenario all too often.

Back to B.C. and the forest industry. Last year there were over 40 deaths in the woods. Those deaths were the result of workers having to work in unsafe working conditions. Fatigue brought on by long hours at a dangerous job in dangerous conditions is a remedy for disaster for forestry workers. Because of the way the industry has been restructured, that is the only way that workers can make ends meet. Workers fought for and got commitments from the provincial government to look at safety conditions and working conditions. However, I have to ask, why? Why does it always take deaths of workers to wake up our governments?

Governments have a role to play in forcing employers to follow safe work practices by legislating and enforcing strict rules for workplace safety. We have seen the scenario in our mining industry. We like to think that those days of the canary in the coal mine are over, but all we have to do is remember the Westray disaster where miners were killed not very many years ago because the employer did not follow safety rules.

We see it every time a worker is killed because an employer in an effort to increase the profit margin cuts corners and puts pressure on workers to take risks. Too many families have lost husbands, fathers, brothers, mothers, wives and sisters because workplace safety is thrown out the window or down the shaft or derailed in the interest of the economy.

However, the economy is not in jeopardy because of this dispute. What is in jeopardy is workers' rights, public safety and the environment.

There have been over 100 derailments in Canada since 2005. Let me just mention seven of them here, only seven, and these seven just happened this year in 2007. It is only mid-April, the fourth month of 2007, and we have had seven derailments. That is two a month. I guess we can expect another one any time soon unfortunately.

On March 12, 2007, about 3,000 VIA Rail passengers had to board buses on the first day of March break after train service in the Toronto-Montreal-Ottawa corridor was disrupted after a CN freight train derailed near the station in Kingston.

On March 10, 2007, rail traffic along CN's main freight line through central New Brunswick was disrupted until the next day by a 17 car derailment in the Plaster Rock area.

On March 4, 2007, grain was spilled near Blue River, B.C., two hours north of Kamloops when 27 cars of a westbound train fell off the track. How does a train fall off the track?

On March 1, 2007, a CN freight train derailment near Pickering, Ontario disrupted VIA service on the Toronto-Montreal-Ottawa corridor and commuter rail service in the Toronto area.

On February 28, 2007, hydrochloric acid spilled from one of five cars of a CP Rail train that went off the tracks in the Kicking Horse Canyon in southeastern British Columbia. Emergency crews managed to contain the spill and none of the chemical went into nearby waterways. Lucky for them.

On January 14, 2007, a derailment near Lake Minisinakwa in northern Ontario dumped more than 30 cars, one containing paint-related supplies, into a swamp. Officials said there was no sign of leaking but train traffic was blocked at Gogama while the accident was being cleared.

On January 8, 2007, 24 cars of a 122 car freight train derailed in Montmagny, Quebec, about 60 kilometres east of Quebec City. There were no injuries, but the accident occurred in a residential neighbourhood and one rail car came to rest about 12 metres from a home.

It seems to me that derailments are harder on the economy than any kind of labour dispute that anyone might find themselves in.

As I have read, some of these derailments have had devastating impacts on communities. I have heard from some of my other colleagues who have talked about some of the derailments in other provinces. People have had to be evacuated because of toxic fumes and there have been devastating impacts on the environment because of toxic spills in rivers, lakes and watersheds. Millions of fish and other wildlife and their habit are gone.

We will be seeing the negative effects of that for years to come. A recent safety audit at CN expressed huge concerns about management's approach to safety measures. Why is it that management had to be told by Transport Canada to clean up its act?

We keep hearing the mantra that they are responsible corporate citizens, that business has our best interests at heart, but when we see an audit that found a number of safety defects, a significantly high rate, 54% to be exact, on locomotives with problems ranging from brake air defects to too much oil accumulated on locomotives and fuel tanks, we know that corners are being cut and public and worker safety is at risk. Every time there is a derailment, the environment suffers.

The goal for the workers at CN is workplace and railway safety. CN workers are put under tremendous pressure to produce. There is a fear of reprisal if workers blow the whistle on safety issues. What kind of a message is the company sending when safety concerns are ignored?

CN is trying to turn back the clock by forcing its workers to accept increased hours away from home. They are already working up to 80 hours a week. The union is fighting for better rest provisions and an end to the 16 hour workday. They are hard-working men and women. All they want is fairness.

Some are saying that this strike is all about money and that workers are asking for $70,000 a year. For persons working 16 hours a day, that works out to about $12 an hour. That is not very much money per hour as far as I can figure. These are not outrageous provisions to ask for, but what is outrageous is the salary of CN CEO Hunter Harrison, who made $56 million in 2005. At 16 hours a day, that is $9,580 an hour. Tell me, how many people in Canada make that kind of a wage? It is outrageous and it is relevant because there is a growing prosperity gap in the country and workers are feeling the brunt of it.

Why is it that when it comes to labour legislation, to fairness for workers, the government talks the talk, but does not walk the walk? Why is it that the Liberals side with the Conservatives every time when it comes to fairness for workers? They say they support free collective bargaining, but they will vote for back to work legislation. They say they support free collective bargaining, but they voted against legislation that would ban replacement workers.

Why is the Conservative government playing into CN's hands and introducing closure on this bill? The government could have made a better choice. It could have chosen to send CN back to the bargaining table instead of sending the workers a kick in the teeth.

The government appointed a negotiator but did not give the negotiator time to find a solution. Everyone wants to find a reasonable solution and get back to work. Everyone wants what is best for Canada: safe working conditions for railway workers, safe transportation of goods, and a strong railway system for a strong economy.

Unlike some in the House, the NDP believes a strong economy includes fairness and safety for workers, safety for the travelling public, and safety for our communities and for the environment.

Let me conclude by saying that I and my NDP colleagues vigorously oppose any back to work legislation, or any legislation that undermines the fundamental right to collective bargaining. Decent hours of work, needed work breaks, and safe working conditions to protect the well-being of railway workers so that at the end of the day every worker can get home safe with their families, that is what we stand up for.

I ask all members to consider the ramifications of letting CN continue its business as usual approach. There is much more at stake than the economy. I am proud to stand and oppose yet another affront to workers' rights and vote against this back to work legislation.

Railway Continuation Act, 2007Government Orders

7:50 p.m.

NDP

Alexa McDonough NDP Halifax, NS

Mr. Speaker, I welcome the opportunity to make a brief comment and ask a couple of questions of my colleague from Vancouver Island North. She should be commended for having shared with the House her perspective as a proud trade unionist, as someone whose family for generations has been affected by the existence of the railways and the importance of the railways to logging communities, and as someone who has a considerable amount of expertise and experience in relation to health and safety issues.

Let us make no mistake about it. The implications of the health and safety issues at stake here are enormous, and not just to the railway workers themselves, but they are enormous because health and safety issues in the context of rail travel translate into very considerable threats, potentially, to the travelling public. Even more broadly, they pose very serious threats with dire consequences in the event that failed health and safety practices result in train derailments and in spills of toxic chemicals and so on. They literally can affect not just families who are living immediately adjacent to rail lines, but actually whole communities that have railways passing through them or even running nearby.

I know that the member for Vancouver Island North shares a very deep concern for those families, as we all do, families whose immediate livelihoods and immediate jobs can indeed be adversely impacted by an impasse and a prolonged strike. In relation to the jobs they perform, they may depend upon supplies coming in or products going out. One should be very clear about this. This is every bit as much of a concern to the workers who find themselves in this untenable situation in this dispute as it is a concern to each and every New Democrat member of Parliament.

It is precisely because these concerns are widely felt that we are adamant that taking this wrong-headed approach of back to work legislation, instead of respecting and supporting a proper collective bargaining process, can unnecessarily cause very long-lasting negative impacts on the workforce.

I have a couple of very brief questions. The member has a great deal of experience with collective bargaining and with the trade union movement. I wonder if she could comment on what it says about the existing nature of the relationship between CN and its workers that 79% of the members of that union actually felt it necessary to vote against ratification of the tentative agreement. In other words, this obviously is not a frivolous decision on their part.

I wonder if she could comment on what the long term damage can be to the morale and the working relationship between a corporation and the workers, especially one headed by a CEO who is collecting $56 million. That is so obscene it is impossible to get my head around it. In regard to a corporation like that and the workers, what are the implications over the medium term and long term for both the morale and the quality of the work that one can expect to emerge from that situation? What are the implications when the collective bargaining rights of workers are simply quashed, which is what the government is trying to do with the support of both the Bloc and the Liberal Party?

Railway Continuation Act, 2007Government Orders

7:55 p.m.

NDP

Catherine Bell NDP Vancouver Island North, BC

Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague from Halifax for her thoughts. As the past leader of the NDP, she has worked long and hard for fairness for ordinary working families and, because of her commitment to the cause of working people, she understands what workers are up against from coast to coast to coast.

As for the work atmosphere and the relationship between CN and its workers, I have to say that there must be a lot of tension in that workplace, because workers do not go on strike or take strike votes frivolously. They give it a lot of thought. Workers go to the bargaining table with just demands, seeking provisions that will make their lives and the lives of their families better. They seek to inform the employer about how those demands can be met and how, in most cases, they can have civil negotiations.

When workers come to the end of their rope, so to speak, or to the end of the tracks in this case, they decide that they need to take a strike vote to underscore it for the employer because the employer is not hearing what they are saying. They take that strike vote and go out there. I know that in the case of so many workers across this country they do not take this frivolously. It is a very serious issue. When they are out on strike, they do not get the same level of income. They could be out there for a long time, or not for very long, as the case may be. They have to be very serious about it because it impacts their family income. They take it very seriously.

It must be a pretty tense situation and the morale must be very low when the workers find out that the Government of Canada can impose back to work legislation on them that says they do not have any rights. It says they do not have the right to go out on strike and they do not have the right to free collective bargaining.

As well, what does that do to the labour movement in general? It puts a black mark on the history of Canada when we do this to workers, because in Canada we have a Labour Code that says we have the right to free collective bargaining. We take away those rights when we impose this kind of legislation.

When workers go to the bargaining table, all they are asking for is fairness, a level of fairness such that they can go to work, be safe and come home at the end of the day to be with their families.

Railway Continuation Act, 2007Government Orders

7:55 p.m.

Conservative

The Acting Speaker Conservative Royal Galipeau

I will advise the hon. member for Peace River, who is rising on questions and comments, that there is one minute for the question and one minute for the answer.

Railway Continuation Act, 2007Government Orders

7:55 p.m.

Conservative

Chris Warkentin Conservative Peace River, AB

Mr. Speaker, I do not know if I can get in the comments that I think are important to bring to this debate in just one minute.

I asked one question earlier with regard to our farm families and the suffering that is being inflicted on them because of this long term labour disruption and the possibility of a long term strike. Essentially I got the response that the NDP does not care about farm families. All the NDP cares about is prolonging this long term labour disruption--

Railway Continuation Act, 2007Government Orders

7:55 p.m.

NDP

Peter Julian NDP Burnaby—New Westminster, BC

Go to Wabamun Lake and ask the people there what happened.

Railway Continuation Act, 2007Government Orders

7:55 p.m.

Conservative

Chris Warkentin Conservative Peace River, AB

The NDP members are now heckling because they certainly do not want to hear what the farm families have to say.

Farm families have come to me in the last two weeks, which I spent travelling from one end of my constituency to the other. The NDP members are talking about safety and these types of things, and those things are important, but at the end of the day the people who are going to be affected most, the people who have the most to lose today, will be our farm families if they are unable to ship the products they so desperately need to ship at this point.

Because of course we have had a harsh winter and CN has been delayed in terms of getting the product to market, and if they cannot ship it now, they will have bills that come due. The bills are already due. Farm families are paying interest on loans and farms are going to go under before they can ever get their product to market, and the NDP does not give a rip.

Railway Continuation Act, 2007Government Orders

8 p.m.

NDP

Catherine Bell NDP Vancouver Island North, BC

Mr. Speaker, as I said at the beginning of my remarks, it is the age-old argument again. The Conservatives are just like the employers, pitting one set of workers--

Railway Continuation Act, 2007Government Orders

8 p.m.

Conservative

Chris Warkentin Conservative Peace River, AB

They can go bankrupt.

Railway Continuation Act, 2007Government Orders

8 p.m.

NDP

David Christopherson NDP Hamilton Centre, ON

You had your turn.

Railway Continuation Act, 2007Government Orders

8 p.m.

Conservative

Chris Warkentin Conservative Peace River, AB

You guys were heckling when I spoke.

Railway Continuation Act, 2007Government Orders

8 p.m.

NDP

Catherine Bell NDP Vancouver Island North, BC

Mr. Speaker, I did not heckle the member when he spoke and I would appreciate it if he does not while I speak.

Again it is the age-old argument of pitting workers against workers. Farmers are definitely concerned about the strike, because if a train derails in their fields and spills toxic chemicals all across their fields, like it did in the rivers in British Columbia and in the lakes in Ontario, they are going to be seeing the effects of it for years to come.

Railway Continuation Act, 2007Government Orders

8 p.m.

York—Simcoe Ontario

Conservative

Peter Van Loan ConservativeLeader of the Government in the House of Commons and Minister for Democratic Reform

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. There have been discussions among the parties and I believe that if you seek it you will find unanimous consent for the following motion to deal with the procedure for the balance of this debate. I move:

That, notwithstanding any standing or special order, during debate on Bill C-46, An Act to provide for the resumption and continuation of railway operations, the Speaker and the Chair of Committees of the Whole shall not receive any quorum calls or dilatory motions; when no member rises to speak at second reading, the question shall be deemed put and a recorded division shall be deemed requested and the vote taken up after a 30-minute bell; during committee of the whole, no amendments shall be received by the Chair except the following:

“That Bill C-46, in Clause 2, be amended by replacing line 23 on page 1 with the following:

Union, or any other trade union certified by the Canada Industrial Relations Board to represent the employees” and

“That Bill C-46, in Clause 2, be amended by replacing line 13 on page 1 with the following: December 31, 2006 and the BC Rail agreement referred to in the protocol signed by representatives of the employer and the union on February 24, 2007, and includes any related”;

when no member rises to speak to any clause or amendment during committee of the whole, a recorded division shall be deemed to have been requested and the item shall be deemed adopted on division; the motion to concur in the bill at report stage shall be deemed adopted on division; and when no member rises to speak at third reading the question shall be deemed put and a recorded division shall be deemed requested and the vote taken up after a 30-minute bell.

Railway Continuation Act, 2007Government Orders

8 p.m.

Conservative

The Acting Speaker Conservative Royal Galipeau

Does the honourable minister have the unanimous consent of the House to propose this motion?

Railway Continuation Act, 2007Government Orders

8 p.m.

Some hon. members

Agreed.

Railway Continuation Act, 2007Government Orders

8 p.m.

Conservative

The Acting Speaker Conservative Royal Galipeau

The House has heard the terms of the motion. Is it the pleasure of the House to adopt the motion?

Railway Continuation Act, 2007Government Orders

8 p.m.

Some hon. members

Agreed.

Railway Continuation Act, 2007Government Orders

8 p.m.

Conservative

The Acting Speaker Conservative Royal Galipeau

(Motion agreed to)

Railway Continuation Act, 2007Government Orders

8 p.m.

NDP

David Christopherson NDP Hamilton Centre, ON

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to join in the debate this evening. It is interesting that often the size of a bill is not necessarily reflective of the power or impact that it will have. This is one of those cases.

Bill C-46 is not that lengthy a document. It runs but six pages. However, contained in it are incredible weapons, weapons that working Canadians are going to perceive have been turned on them by Parliament, their own government.

While it may be a debate for some members here, for individuals who are either walking the picket line now or are still out on the rails doing the best they can to provide, not just the best level of service for the customers of CN, but also for the safety of themselves, everyone else on the train and everybody who is affected by the incredible escalation of derailments that have taken place across this country, this is a powerful bill that goes in exactly the wrong direction.

The summary of the bill states:

This enactment provides for the resumption and continuation of railway operations and imposes a final offer selection process to resolve matters remaining in dispute between the parties.

That sounds nice and simple. The NDP has three huge problems with that sentence alone. First, to say that this act provides for the resumption and continuation of railway operations, it also means that free Canadians who, through a free and democratic vote, decided to exercise their rights to withdraw their labour and put pressure on their employer to cough up a better collective agreement are being denied those rights. If this bill passes, those Canadian citizens lose their rights.

Second, it imposes a final offer selection process. I see a couple of government backbenchers nodding their heads up and down nicely as if they were in the back of the car window. The fact is, I say to the hon. member now that he is actually listening, that this is not a fair process for the workers involved. That may not matter to the backbenchers but it matters to a lot of Canadians and their families.

Third, the summary says “resolve matters remaining in dispute”.

Railway Continuation Act, 2007Government Orders

8 p.m.

Conservative

Chris Warkentin Conservative Peace River, AB

What about farmers?

Railway Continuation Act, 2007Government Orders

8 p.m.

NDP

David Christopherson NDP Hamilton Centre, ON

In spite of the heckling, I am going to continue. If members do not want to listen, they do not need to listen but the workers will have their say while the Conservatives railroad them into an agreement or a law that takes away their rights. I have news for the members of the Conservative caucus. The NDP will stand here and defend those workers' rights today and every day that we need to.

The last one is the point about “resolve matters remaining in dispute”, which is just a nice way of saying that the government will jam it down their throat and they will just have to live with it. Basically, that is what it says.

Let me put on the record what one of Canada's foremost national labour leaders had to say about this.

Railway Continuation Act, 2007Government Orders

8 p.m.

Conservative

Chris Warkentin Conservative Peace River, AB

What about the average farmer?

Railway Continuation Act, 2007Government Orders

8 p.m.

NDP

David Christopherson NDP Hamilton Centre, ON

Here we go with the laughing and heckling from the Conservative benches. Anybody inside the National Union of Public and General Employees, NUPGE, who wants to know who is laughing while I am reading its national president's statement, just call the NDP office. We will be glad to give the names of those who think this is funny.

In the news release, the national president of NUPGE, James Clancy, said this about what is happening right here:

This is another regrettable example of Canada abrogating labour and human rights obligations....

We have a duty as a country to honour these conventions and treaties that our governments have signed over the years with the United Nations (UN) and the International Labour Organization (ILO).

Canada's “new government” is behaving in the old discredited way that governments in the past have behaved by violating our international obligations to respect the rights of workers.

This makes a mockery of Canada's signature on international labour and human rights conventions and treaties. The Harper Conservatives are behaving no better than the Liberals did, Clancy argued.

Railway Continuation Act, 2007Government Orders

8:05 p.m.

Conservative

The Acting Speaker Conservative Royal Galipeau

Order, please. The hon. member for Hamilton Centre has sufficient experience here to know that he is not to name by name other members of the House either directly or indirectly.

Railway Continuation Act, 2007Government Orders

8:05 p.m.

NDP

David Christopherson NDP Hamilton Centre, ON

I apologize, Mr. Speaker. I thought you were referring to the name of the president, which I think is in order, but in this release was the name of a member. You are absolutely right and I apologize. It does not change the argument but the point is taken.

Mr. Clancy goes on to say:

There is no compelling need for the government to intervene. The strike has been declared legal by the Canadian Industrial Relations Board...and the parties should be left to resolve their differences through the collective bargaining process.

At its core that is what we are asking. All we are asking is that the government recognize there is a democratic negotiation taking place right now between two parties. A legal strike is underway. That, in and of itself, is not the end of the world. They were rotating strikes. I would put to members that a union that conducts rotating strikes, as opposed to a general shut down, is merely trying to make its point and put pressure on management to come to the bargaining table and negotiate a fair collective agreement.

If the union wanted to wreak the kind of havoc that the Conservative backbenchers are suggesting, it would have just taken a vote. It has huge support of, I believe, 70% or 75%. The workers could have taken that mandate and shut the system down but the workers did not want to do that.

What the workers want is to get a collective agreement. We must remember that at the end of the day this is supposed to be about getting a collective agreement. When there is a strike or it is imposed, we are breaking down the process. The strike is okay because it is within the confines but when the government starts dictating what the terms will be then it completely denies the union its legal right to represent those employees in the bargaining process.

In addition, if the union had wanted to do all this damage and it was so evil in listening to the Conservative backbenchers, it would have included commuters. If the union really wanted to crank up the heat, it could have done that. If it was all about an exercise of power, the union had the ability to do that.

However, the union is not seeking to do that, which is why this is so heartbreaking today. The legislation gives absolutely no recognition for the rights of the workers in this.

A colleague continues to mention the farmers. Fair enough. They are a part of the equation but to do this will not help the farmers.

This takes me to my next point, which is the safety issue. It does not do people an awful lot of good if all their products are on a train that goes over the cliff.

I want everyone to listen to this. If we wait long enough it starts to come out. Another one of them pipes up with a squeak here in the background, “well, that's what insurance is for”.