Imposed Arbitration at the Post
Office
Postal Workers Continue
the Fight for Their Rights
- Louis Lang -
Windsor picket by postal workers and their allies, January 16,
2019, as
forced arbitration begins.
The government-imposed arbitration process at
Canada
Post began on January 16. The Liberal government's Postal Services Resumption and
Continuation Act denies
postal workers their right to strike to reach an agreement with
Canada
Post acceptable to themselves.
 A bulletin from the
Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) explains it planned to
use the
first day of arbitration to determine the issues still in dispute
and
the process to be followed by arbitrator Elizabeth
MacPherson.
The legislation gives the Minister of Labour
discretion
to determine the remaining issues in contention but the Minister
chose
to transfer this authority to the arbitrator. The type of
arbitration
process to be followed also has to be decided. The legislation
provides
two types of arbitration processes: conventional interest
arbitration
and final offer
selection.
The union has declared that it will participate
in the
arbitration process on a "without prejudice basis subject to any
challenges or court rulings on the back to work legislation."
CUPW
filed a constitutional challenge with the Ontario Superior Court
on
December 11, 2018 claiming Postal
Services
Resumption
and
Continuation
Act violates the right of
the union to free
collective bargaining under the Charter
of
Rights
and
Freedoms. Paul
Cavaluzzo, a constitutional lawyer representing CUPW stated at
the
time, "The Liberal Government's legislation just like the
previous
Conservative law in 2011, unilaterally prohibits any lawful
strike."
On November 27, 2018, after five weeks
of
rotating strikes, the Postal
Services
Resumption and Continuation Act forced postal workers to
return
to work
under their previous collective agreement. Facing heavy fines
against
individual workers and the union, workers returned to work
without
their serious concerns having being addressed.
 The mediation process
imposed by the Postal Services
Resumption and Continuation Act also failed to resolve any
of
the outstanding
issues and ended on December 17, 2018.
The union estimates that from the day the federal
Liberal government forced postal workers to return to work
without a
new collective agreement to address the outstanding
issues, 750
disabling injuries have occurred, Rural and Suburban Mail
Carriers
(RSMCs) have worked approximately 439,000 hours without pay,
and
urban
workers have worked thousands of hours of forced overtime.
The union declares that postal workers will not
stop
fighting until the important issues confronting them are resolved
to
their satisfaction: health and safety, full-time secure
employment, and
equality for RSMCs must be addressed immediately.
This article was published in
Number 2 - January 24, 2019
Article Link:
Imposed Arbitration at the Post
Office: Postal Workers Continue
the Fight for Their Rights - Louis Lang
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
|
