Tories to legislate Air Canada staff back to work
BY BRADLEY BOUZANE, POSTMEDIA NEWS JUNE 14, 2011 2:52 PM
Barb Reid leads Air Canada customer service agents in chants as they protest outside of Terminal 1 at Toronto Pearson International Airport on Tuesday, June 14, 2011. Employees represented by the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) union went on strike at midnight after failure to reach an agreement with the airline.
Photograph by: Matthew Sherwood, For Postmedia News
OTTAWA — The federal government says it plans to table back-to-work legislation to end a strike by service staff at Air Canada.
Labour Minister Lisa Raitt made the announcement Tuesday in the House of Commons, saying she would formally present a notice to MPs later in the day informing them of legislation that would come at a later date.
About 3,800 agents from the country's largest air carrier walked off the job across the country Tuesday, in the first major strike faced by Air Canada in nearly 13 years.
"We are concerned by the effect this strike will have on our economic recovery — which is still fragile — and on Canadians in general," Raitt said in the House.
"Canadians gave us a strong mandate . . . to complete our economic recovery, so that's why we will put on notice (Tuesday night) legislation to ensure continuing air service for passengers."
Normally, once notice of legislation is given in the House, the government cannot table the actual bill for 48 hours — meaning the back-to-work legislation wouldn't come until Thursday.
Readmore:http://www.canada.com/Tories+legislate+Canada+staff+back+work/4944425/story.html#ixzz1PHasNZOz
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