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Harper has carte blanche because of his majority, but the hockey enthusiast has the equivalent of a breakaway on an empty net. There's the loss of resistance with the collapse of the Liberal party, and the uncertainty left at the top of the new opposition New Democrats due to the death of leader Jack Layton. "Harper's government has more respect for the right to bear arms," says Toronto labour lawyer Paul Cavalluzzo, who represents the Canadian Union of Post- al Workers, referring to the Conserva- tives' recent move to do away with the long-gun registry. "Obviously they are not very friendly to the labour move- ment and they don't pretend to be." In 2011, Minister of Labour Lisa Raitt interceded to stop a strike by Canada Post and prevent one by Air Canada's flight attendants. Meanwhile, the Canadian Union of Public Employ- ees is preparing proposals for new deals for the carrier's pilots as of November; the two sides there are already fastening their seatbelts in anticipation of severe turbulence. A contract with Air Canada mechanics is also up for renegotiation. This new policy of stepping into dis- putes is setting the stage for a new style of labour negotiations, experts say, where companies hold back and wait for gov- ernment help. If the government's pro- pensity to involve itself in labour disputes The airline's communications depart- ment did not respond to interview requests for its representatives. The government's increased involve- ment in labour matters is dangerous, says McGill University's Bob Hebdon, an expert on government intervention in "FOR THE HARPER GOVERNMENT TO TAKE AWAY THE ONLY POWER THAT THE UNION REALLY HAD UNDERMINES THE ENTIRE PREMISE OF THE LABOUR RELATIONS SYSTEM. . . ." JULIE GUARD, UNIVERSITY OF MANITOBA continues, says Cavalluzzo, employers will feel safe under the umbrella of back- to-work legislation and will no longer be serious about negotiating. That's exactly what happened in Air Canada's dispute with the flight attendants, says another Toronto employment and labour lawyer, Howard Levitt of Levitt LLP. "I blame it on Air Canada," he says. "They didn't fight. You've got to be prepared to fight." disputes. "[Parties] hold back knowing if the government intervenes they'll have padding," he told The Canadian Employer. "So, the union doesn't really get the last best offer. The behaviour has changed." Twice CUPE took an offer from Air Canada back to the flight attendants. On the first attempt in August, 87 per cent of them rejected the proposal; on the second in October, that number was down to 28 JAN UARY 2012 www. CANADIAN Lawyermag.com 65. Union leaders said they managed to get 80 per cent of what membership was seeking. "The fact that the members twice rejected offers that they were presented by the union is a pretty clear signal that there is conflict within the union," offers Ken Thornicroft, a law and labour studies professor at the University of Victoria. The Canada Industrial Relations Board hadn't been used in more than a year when it was asked by the union rep- resenting Canwest employees to establish successor rights when a number of the broadcaster's television stations were sold. By going to the CIRB, the government took away the union's only strength — the membership's willingness to withdraw their labour, says Julie Guard, an asso- ciate professor of labour studies at the University of Manitoba. "For the Harper government to take away the only power that the union really had undermines the entire premise of the labour relations sys- tem that has governed relations between workers and their employers since the 1940s," says Guard. She says that by intervening twice now — with the postal workers and the flight attendants — one might surmise that the reuters/todd Korol reuters/MarK bliNch