Democracy Gone Astray

Democracy, being a human construct, needs to be thought of as directionality rather than an object. As such, to understand it requires not so much a description of existing structures and/or other related phenomena but a declaration of intentionality.
This blog aims at creating labeled lists of published infringements of such intentionality, of points in time where democracy strays from its intended directionality. In addition to outright infringements, this blog also collects important contemporary information and/or discussions that impact our socio-political landscape.

All the posts here were published in the electronic media – main-stream as well as fringe, and maintain links to the original texts.

[NOTE: Due to changes I haven't caught on time in the blogging software, all of the 'Original Article' links were nullified between September 11, 2012 and December 11, 2012. My apologies.]

Friday, June 17, 2011

Canada Post becomes focus of House on back-to-work bill

A tentative deal between Air Canada and its striking workers means the government can now turn its attention to back-to-work legislation to end the lockout at Canada Post.

Labour Minister Lisa Raitt announced the tentative deal shortly after 1 p.m. ET in the House of Commons, about an hour after the government introduced legislation that would force the union back to work.

"We're very, very pleased with how it unfolded and I know that putting the legislation on the order paper and following through in process today was a tool that was needed in order to focus the parties and narrow the issues and get them to where they are," Raitt said, adding she worked with NDP labour critic Yvon Godin to try to convince the two sides to go back to the table.

Air Canada says employees are expected to return to work effective Friday morning.

In a statement, the airline says the parties reached a tentative agreement on all elements of a new contract except for pension arrangements for workers hired after the ratification of the collective agreement. That issue will be referred to binding arbitration.

The deal means the government can instead plan to turn its attention to another back-to-work bill, to end the lockout at Canada Post, on Tuesday.

Raitt will introduce back-to-work legislation for Canada Post in the House on Monday, but it's up to the NDP to set the debate on that day, because it's one of the few days allocated to the Opposition's agenda.

The NDP is strongly opposed to the bill and has promised to slow debate on it.

Full Article
Source: CBC news 

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