Postal strike in Canada update (2 messages) Birdie MacLennan 03 Dec 1997 16:31 UTC
2 messages, 194 lines:
(1)---------------------------
Date: Wed, 3 Dec 1997 10:44:05 -0500
From: Doug Jonas <jonasdou@METRONET.LIB.MI.US>
Subject: Canada Postal Strike Update
Heard this morning on CBC radio that back-to-work legislation passed in
the House of Commons and is on the way to the Senate. They expect the
strike to be over by the end of the week.
Doug Jonas Southfield Public Library
Serials Clerk 26000 Evergreen Road
jonasdou@metronet.lib.mi.us Southfield MI 48076
(248) 948-0461
(2)----------------------------
Date: Wed, 3 Dec 1997 11:19
From: Birdie MacLennan <bmaclenn@zoo.uvm.edu>
Subject: Canada Postal Strike Update
FYI, another perspective from the Canadian press. -bml
Forwarded from _The Toronto Star_ (Internet edition:
http://www.thestar.com/editorial/news/971203A01d_NA-POST3.html)
December 3, 1997
Mail legislation zips through
Postal union says protests to go on if
workers return
By Edison Stewart
Toronto Star Ottawa Bureau
OTTAWA - Only the formality of Senate
approval today remains before striking
postal workers are ordered back to work.
The legislation raced through the House of
Commons yesterday with lightning speed,
zipping through debate that normally can
take days or weeks in a matter of hours.
The final vote last night was 198 to 56,
with Bloc Qu�b�cois and New Democrat MPs
voting against.
Mail service is expected to resume Friday,
ending a strike by the 45,000-member
Canadian Union of Postal Workers that
began Nov. 19.
Any worker defying the law can be fined up
to $1,000 a day. Union leaders refusing to
obey can be fined $50,000 a day and the
union $100,000 a day.
But union leader Darrell Tingley vowed
protests will continue whether workers
return to their jobs or not.
Striking postal workers yesterday delayed
flights in Toronto, air cargo in Halifax
and marched on Parliament Hill in bitterly
cold wind.
-------------------
The Star's view
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There will be more protests today ``and
the day after, and the day after, and the
day after,'' Tingley vowed.
In the House of Commons, only the Bloc
Qu�b�cois and the New Democrats opposed
the bill but even they co-operated in
allowing the House to speed through all
three stages in a single day.
In return, the government agreed to amend
its legislation to alter a section the
opposition parties said was aimed at
turning Canada Post into a ``cash cow''
for the federal treasury.
NDP Leader Alexa McDonough said the
amendment ensures a yet-to-be-appointed
mediator-arbitrator follows the Canada
Post Act, which requires the post office
only to be financially self-sufficient.
All opposition parties also objected to
the section that sets out wage increases
of 5.15 per cent over three years, an
estimated $35 million less than Canada
Post's final offer.
Reform critic Jim Gouk called the measure
``intentionally mean-spirited'' and unfair
and said the one-sided bill will only
exacerbate tension between Canada Post and
its workers.
``It seems a very great insult to bring in
a wage settlement that is actually below
the last offer that was put forward by
Canada Post,'' McDonough told reporters.
Bloc House leader Michel Gauthier called
the tactic vengeful.
All four opposition parties favoured
leaving the wage issue among those to be
resolved by a mediator-arbitrator, who
will have 90 days to help both sides to
reach an agreement and, failing that, have
the authority to impose a settlement.
But Labour Minister Lawrence MacAulay
said: ``The wage rate is fair for CUPW and
fair for the post office.''
He declined to say why he took the issue
out of the hands of the arbitrator except
to say that ``I decided it was the proper
thing to do. I made the decision and it is
there and it is staying there.''
MacAulay acknowledged that the strike has
hurt Canadian businesses and charities but
said he has ``no regrets in having
provided the parties with every
possibility to resolve the dispute
themselves.''
Gouk said MacAulay should be ashamed of
himself.
The strike will have cost the Canadian
economy $4 billion by the time everything
is back to normal, Gouk said.
``We owe it . . . to the citizens of
Canada to ensure that this situation does
not continue to occur every few years. We
need an alternative to strikes and
lockouts that is fair to the parties
involved and fair to Canadians who count
on the postal service,'' he continued.
``The government's legislation does not
provide that.''
NDP labour critic Pat Martin said
Parliament should not be limiting
individual rights.
Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini ``made
the trains run on time. That is all very
well and good, but is that the kind of
direction we want to go in as a country? I
would argue that it is not,'' Martin said.
Martin blamed the government for the
impasse.
``We have a manufactured crisis here that
was a tempest in a teapot, brought to a
head by pressure brought to bear by the
federal government on Canada Post, which
translated at the bargaining table into a
demand to change the work rules that would
result in the loss of 4,000 jobs.''
At Pearson International Airport
yesterday, cargo traffic was reduced to a
crawl when postal workers blocked access
to cargo buildings.
``We're trying to inconvenience
businesses, like the Canadian Direct
Marketing Association, that have
encouraged the federal government to
legislate us back to work,'' said Andr�
Kolompar, regional officer with the
Canadian Union of Postal Workers.
-------------------
With files from Carol Coles