NUPGE condemns back-to-work legislation in CN dispute

'This action was unnecessary. The collective bargaining process was not given a chance to work.' - James Clancy

Ottawa (19 April 2007) - Once again, Canada's MPs acted all too rashly in crushing the rights of workers and violating international obligations the country has undertaken to uphold, says the National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE).

"How many times is this going to happen?" asks James Clancy, president of the 340,000-member union.

"This action was unnecessary. The collective bargaining process was not given a fair chance to work," Clancy said. "Again our elected members took the easy way out by simply trampling legitimate labour and human rights that Canada has pledged to respect."

CN Rail workers were ordered back to work Tuesday night by a vote approved 196 to 41 in the House of Commons. Only the New Democratic Party voted against the measure, introduced by the Harper Conservatives.

Members of the United Transportation Union (UTU), which represents 2,800 yard workers and conductors, are affected by the bill.

Clancy said Canada continues to routinely violate international conventions and treaties that our governments have signed over the years with the United Nations (UN) and the International Labour Organization (ILO).

"Canada's 'new government' is behaving in the same old discredited way governments have in the past," Clancy said. "In the last 25 years, governments at all levels in Canada have intervened repeatedly and unnecessarily in legitimate labour disputes," he noted.

"This makes a mockery of Canada's signature internationally. The Harper Conservatives are behaving no better than the Liberals did." NUPGE

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