Date Posted: June 27, 2011
Print Edition: June 24, 2011
By Amy Van Veen (The Cascade) – Email
As the first round of negotiations for Air Canada comes to a fairly amicable end for their customer service employees, legislation has turned to deal with the Canada Post lock-out.
According to The Guardian, the front-line staff and Air Canada have now reached a tentative agreement that has addressed all of the issues of their contract except for pensions. Now that they have returned to work after their three-day strike, the future for the rest of the union negotiations has been well established. The next group to negotiate will be the flight attendants, who amount to 6800 employees. However, there is the fear of government involvement so soon after their strike began. Many, like Dave Ritchie of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, argue that the quick work of legislation takes away the employees’ right to bargain.
This same attitude towards the involvement of the federal government is a hot topic within the Canada Post negotiations. As Harper’s Conservatives lead the way in back-to-work legislation, Jack Layton’s NDP opposition want to do their best to protect the rights of the workers.
According to the CBC, the government is currently looking strictly in economic terms as they push for a quick vote for back-to-work legislation. This favours the corporation’s ability to get their workers back to working rather than allowing the workers themselves to bargain the terms of their contract at their own pace.
Jack Layton made a speech to Vancouver postal workers who had been locked out, assuring them that the opposition will stand by their “right to negotiate a fair contract with the employer” (Vancouver Sun).
CBC reported that 48,000 Canada Post employees have been locked out after almost two weeks of rotating strikes across the country. Though the negotiations are still in progress, pensions remain the main sticking point, as it still is for Air Canada.
According to Ian Markham, a leader of retirement research in Canada, “companies more than 50 years old are most susceptible to pension funding shortfalls and are the most likely to try to convert their pension plans” (The Guardian). Though this does affect new hires, the problem arises with established employees who are facing changes to what they thought was a steady pension system.
While Canada Post employees seek solace in the NDP’s promise to allow them time to practice their rights, Canadian citizens and non-profit organizations are feeling the pressure of a locked out postal system.
CBC noted that organizations such as Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB) are feeling the financial weight of hiring couriers in lieu of the locked out Canada Post. They depend on the deliveries of recordings and the like for those that depend on them. While some organizations are at a standstill for their members, others, like Smart DM – which is a mail organization based in Toronto – may have to begin lay-offs as their business is at a standstill as well.
Just as people at corporate and organization levels are frustrated, those at the individual level are also at a loss. Brides and grooms, who traditionally depend on mailed-out wedding invitations, have to find alternate and perhaps less convenient means of preparing for their big day.
With disagreements within the House of Commons between the majority and the opposition, and between the corporation and the unions, the lock-out will most likely stay in place for a number of days before an agreement or legislation can be put in place.
