March 15, 2012 Bulletin No. 95
Union to Challenge Arbitrator Appointed by Minister Raitt
On March 14th we were informed that the Minister of Labour, Lisa Raitt, had appointed arbitrator Guy Dufort as the new arbitrator in the Final Offer Selection (FOS) arbitration between the urban CUPW unit and Canada Post Corporation (CPC).In November 2011, following the resignation of arbitrator Osborne, the Department of Labour had asked us to submit the names of additional arbitrators. The Union complied with the request and provided a list of names. These names were in addition to the five names we had already sent on July 15th, 2011.
In our letter dated November 18th to the Minister of Labour, Arbitrator Dufort was one of the names on our list. His name was suggested to us because he was on the list of all Quebec arbitrators. This list has to be approved by both employers and central labour bodies, which means that the FTQ and the CSN accepted these names. It was also necessary to check whether the arbitrator was bilingual and to determine his degree of experience in labour relations. Since we believed that arbitrator Guy Dufort met these conditions we did not go any further.
When arbitrator Dufort made first contact with us he revealed the fact that he is involved with the Federal Conservative Party; and that he had been employed by Canada Post for several years and was involved in the PSAC pay equity case. These issues were unknown to us when the decision to put his name on the list was made.
Today we directed our counsel to contact arbitrator Guy Dufort and request, that considering the political and professional details that he provided to us, he not accept the mandate given to him by the Minister of Labour; and that if he has already accepted the appointment then we would ask him to recuse himself from the arbitration.
We will keep you posted on any developments as they occur.
The struggle continues.
In Solidarity,
Denis Lemelin
National President and Chief Negotiator
2011-2015 – Bulletin No. 37