Tories talk tough on labour

OTTAWA—The Conservatives’ tough-on-labour approach is running into turbulence in the skies and in the courts.

As the clock ticked down to a 12:01 a.m. Thursday strike deadline Wednesday, Air Canada flight attendants grudgingly bowed to Ottawa’s efforts to keep them on the job. And in a separate move, postal workers launched a court challenge charging that Conservatives’ back-to-work legislation introduced in June was unconstitutional and trampled on long-standing labour rights.

“This is a government which appears to be addicted to back-to-work legislation. If workers’ rights are going to be trampled on so cavalierly, then I think workers have to stand up,” said Paul Cavalluzzo, the lawyer acting for the postal workers.

But making war with the unions might not be bad politics, according to EKOS pollster Frank Graves. He suggested the Tory moves are less about ideology and more about politics and the fact that playing tough with labour plays well with their Conservative constituency.

“I do think that right now, the attitudes to organized labour and unions are probably not that favourable,” said Graves.

As well, the Conservatives may be trying to squeeze the New Democrats between their traditional ties to unions and their efforts as the official opposition to play to a broader cross-section of Canadians.

Still, Graves cautioned that Conservatives can push unions only so far before encountering a public backlash, especially in light of ongoing Wall St. protests against the growing gulf between rich and poor.

“There is some exposure if cumulatively this becomes seen as testing the basic sense of fair play and social justice,” Graves said.

At issue are the Conservatives’ pre-emptive moves over the summer to short-circuit work stoppages at both Air Canada and Canada Post.

The postal workers were legislated back to work after a series of rotating strikes and a management lock-up tied up mail delivery in June. At the same time, Air Canada customer-service agents went on strike and within 24 hours, Labour Minister Lisa Raitt signalled Ottawa’s intent to legislate an end to that strike, too.

Air Canada and its union reached a deal in that dispute, averting the need for government action in June. However, separate talks with Air Canada’s 6,800 flight attendants have proven tough. The flight attendants have twice rejected tentative deals, bringing the airline to the brink of a strike this week.

But Raitt referred the case to the Canadian Industrial Relations Board Wednesday, pre-empting any job action. The union said it would call off its threatened job action but denounced Raitt’s moves as “outrageous.”

“These disgraceful tactics can be seen as nothing else but an outright attack on the rights of every worker in Canada,” said Paul Moist, national president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees.

That argument is at the heart of the postal workers’ legal challenge, claiming that the back-to-work law violates the postal workers’ freedom of association guaranteed under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

“The right to strike is fundamental because it is the only means by which workers have to persuade their employer to reach a deal,” Cavalluzzo said.

“Without that leverage . . . collective bargaining becomes meaningless,” he said, adding that employers have little incentive to bargain if they know that Ottawa will intervene.

Cavalluzzo charged that Tory moves to block work stoppages are based on ideology rather than any hard evidence of potential economic damage if a strike occurred.

The court case, filed with the Ontario Superior Court, is certain to land in the Supreme Court of Canada for a precedent-setting ruling on the rights of unionized workers, he said.

“This is a crucial issue. This is an issue as to whether the right to strike is constitutionally protected for workers,” he said.

Liberal House Leader Marc Garneau said the Harper government “jumped into the fray much too quickly.

“For political reasons, they (the Conservatives) have decided to aggressively go after the unions,” he said.

Origin
Source: Toronto Star