NDP will 'stand up' for postal workers in Parliament, Layton says

The NDP can maintain union ties and still be a broad based party -- but they'll have to see how they can expand the sort of benefits unions bring to all workers:

http://bit.ly/ih8QI4

NDP Leader Jack Layton said the party would stand up for postal workers next week in Parliamentary debate on legislation to end the Canada Post lockup.

"We'll use the parliamentary tools we have at our disposal to see the legislation fully debated," he told reporters during a scrum.

He accused Prime Minister Stephen Harper of essentially "shutting down" the postal service.

"It's certainly the wrong thing to do, and it sends a very bad signal out to the working people that tromp up and down on our sidewalks and deliver our mail to our communities and homes that he doesn't respect the bargaining process."