@mjwl2006 wrote:
How is this 'getting involved' in a labour dispute? There's no interference by eBay in favor of one party over the other.
Taking particular sides isn't the point. The propriety of a foreign company Interfering in a Canadian labour dispute by using Canadian citizens' signatures to encourage our government to take legislative action is. Which is why the NDP found this letter "troubling". It is.
I would urge any Canadian sellers who are considering signing this letter to the Prime Minister to think carefully before doing so. This is an American corporation exploiting Canadian sellers' (voters) names for the corporation's own purposes on what is essentially a petition to the Liberal government to pass legislation to end collective bargaining in our postal system.
This is meddling by a non-Canadian entity in the internal (and political) affairs of Canada. It is political meddling because our PM has promised not to use back to work legislation as a hammer to close this dispute. A Canadian association of small internet business owners might be a far more appropriate body to present such a petition, but would that be in the best interests of Canadians in the longer term?
As I said earlier, I don't expect eBay's motives are focused on Canadian sellers, but on losses being suffered by U.S. sellers whose Canadian buyers have stopped purchasing.
On the face of it, the invitation to "make your voice heard", and the letter itself seem reasonable enough. However, reading between the lines critically and with eBay's own context in mind, it's easy to see there are bigger issues at stake than our momentary hardships as sellers:
"Canadian businesses are now calling on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to implement a legislative solution to the current situation."
[...] we strongly encourage your government to take the actions necessary to implement a long-term agreement to restore certainty in Canada’s postal service and ensure consistent, reliable support for Canadian SMBs.
Sincerely the undersigned eBay sellers,"
Sounds good, doesn't it? Except that our political clout as Canadian business owners (and voters) is being manipulated for the long-term purposes of an American company with primarily U.S. interests. Clearly eBay itself has had little success in budging our government into "legislative action" by direct means. Rallying Canadian voters is a more convincing tactic. But what exactly is it that our signatures are encouraging our government to do through this letter-petition?
The words in this letter that most send a chill down my spine are "long-term agreement to restore certainty". There is a sinister generality to this phrase. This is not what the spirit and the law of collective bargaining demand, nor what the Liberal government has stood for. This is not the kind of legislation that unions (and working/voting Canadians) have fought for decades to put in place. This the the kind of international corporate security eBay would like.
I think 'femmefan' and I must have had similar backgrounds in Ottawa. For my part, having worked in the PMO, I can say that large-scale petitions signed by Canadian citizens on a narrowly defined issue are taken very seriously.
If you are in favour of encouraging the Liberal government to straight-jacket the freedom of labour to engage in collective bargaining through long-term restrictive legislation, then you need not hesitate to sign this letter. But if you are concerned about preserving the freedoms we have and preventing large foreign corporations from influencing governmental decision-making, take a pass on this petition.
So please think about what you are asking your government to do by signing this letter. It is not being signed by eBay, but by Canadians.
