Posted: Friday, 17 June 2011

Ken Georgetti writes Labour Minister Lisa Raitt protesting the Minister's interference in the collective bargaining process at Canada Post.

The Honourable Lisa Raitt, MP
Minister of Labour
House of Commons

Dear Minister:

On behalf of the over three million members of the Canadian Labour Congress, I am writing to protest your intention to introduce back to work legislation in the dispute between Canada Post and the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW), where the Corporation has locked out its workers.

Minister, the proper role for the government in this instance is to tell its own Crown Corporation to get back to the bargaining table and negotiate a collective agreement. It is not to aid the Corporation to achieve, through back to work legislation, its collective bargaining objectives. There is no incentive here Minister, with your actions, for the employer to return to the bargaining table and negotiate.

Your role, as Minister, is to foster the process of collective bargaining and not get directly involved in any dispute. For collective bargaining to work, the parties themselves must willingly negotiate. Your actions have removed the employer's obligation to negotiate which will only serve to further poison already acrimonious labour relations.

Sincerely,

Kenneth V. Georgetti
President