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.]

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Ottawa moves to end postal disruption

OTTAWA—The Harper government is hoping the threat of back-to-work legislation will spur a negotiated end to the postal dispute that has stopped mail delivery nationwide.

Declaring the two sides have had an “ample amount of time” to reach a settlement, Labour Minister Lisa Raitt said she was ready to force an end to the work stoppage at Canada Post using legislation she introduced Monday.

Under the proposed law, an arbitrator would choose between the final offer from management or the union’s final offer, a scenario Raitt conceded could leave one side on the losing end.

“That’s the danger of asking Parliament to settle your dispute,” she said. “Your dispute should be settled at the table between the parties who know the issues the best.”

Still, Raitt continues to hold out hope for a negotiated deal after getting Denis Lemelin, head of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers, and Canada Post CEO Deepak Chopra together on a conference call Monday.

“I encouraged them to look at each other’s offers and to narrow the dispute if they could to find a deal — and if they couldn’t, if the issues were too big, to find their own process,” Raitt told reporters.

The back-to-work legislation could take several days to become law, in part because of opposition from New Democrats, who accuse the Conservatives of meddling in collective bargaining.

“Why is the government interfering in these negotiations, and trampling on collective bargaining?” New Democrat MP Yvon Godin asked in Question Period.

Full Article
Source: Toronto Star 

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