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.]

Thursday, March 15, 2012

Airline workers lose rights: Rae

Interim Liberal leader Bob Rae says the federal government violated the constitutional rights of airline workers to strike when it legislated them back to work in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

Rae said the Conservative government - which overwhelmingly supported the bill to keep Air Canada's planes in the air - is treating the company as an essential service and, as such, should offer employees a fair alternative to striking, similar to what police and firefighters enjoy.

Legislation to prevent a work stoppage at Canada's largest airline passed in the House of Commons after a rowdy marathon debate that began Tuesday evening and ended about 1: 30 a.m. Wednesday.

Bill C-33, which passed by a vote of 155-124, addresses some 8,600 mechanics, baggage handlers and other ground crew, along with about 3,000 pilots, and now moves to the Senate, where it is expected to be receive royal assent later this week.

The House Speaker repeatedly was forced to tell MPs, who had been up all night, to quiet down during the raucous debate.

Federal Labour Minister Lisa Raitt told the House a work stoppage could cost the economy as much as $22.4 million per week. "As agreements do not seem to be imminent, and work stoppages are being proposed, the government of Canada must act now to keep Air Canada in the air.


"The inconvenience of a work stoppage to travellers, serious disruptions to Canadian businesses and potential threat to health and safety would be significant and there's far too much at stake to let this happen."

Winnipeg North Liberal MP Kevin Lamoureux said his party is "very concerned" about the way the Conservative government has been handling the labour file, and called on Raitt to start showing support for all workers.

"We too, are concerned about the public. We recognize some of the fragilities within the economy. But we, the Liberal party, do support the concept of the free collective bargaining process, and that is something in which this government has demonstrated time and time again that they do not support that," Lamoureux said.

The Conservatives have used back-to-work legislation twice since the party earned its majority mandate in the 2011 election, including once to prevent a prior work stoppage at Air Canada.

Other Conservative MPs chanted Deepak Obhrai's name loudly after his fiery defence of the bill, in which he argued that it would benefit all Canadians and the economy.

Last week, mechanics and ground crew workers served notice to Air Canada that the 8,600 members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers would walk off the job at midnight Monday after the union rank and file rejected a tentative offer last month.

At the same time, the airline had threatened to lock out pilots after their union, the Air Canada Pilots Association, rejected the final offer from the airline.

According to Air Canada investor documents, the airline has about half the domestic air travel market and more than one-third of international flights.

Original Article
Source: windsorstar
Author: --

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