Partial victory for postal workers

The Toronto Star:

The Canadian Union of Postal Workers is declaring partial victory in its fight against arbitration imposed by federal labour minister Lisa Raitt.

Federal court judge Luc Martineau ruled this week that the arbitration must be stopped until January. That’s when the court hears the union’s arguments against Raitt’s appointment of former judge Coulter A. Osborne as arbitrator.

“I am satisfied that the union has overwhelmingly established the existence of irreparable harm. There is clear evidence of harm and the instances of harm alleged by the union are not hypothetical or conjectural, as argued by Canada Post,” Martineau wrote in his ruling.

“Labour arbitration as a dispute resolution mechanism has traditionally and functionally rested on a consensual basis, with the arbitrator chosen by the parties or being acceptable to both parties. That did not occur in (this) case,” Martineau added.

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