CUPW

Striking Canada Post staff must return to work, labour board rules

Ruby Pratka, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

editor@qctonline.com

Canada Post delivery staff are expected to return to work on Dec. 17, despite the fact that by all accounts, the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) and Canada Post are far from an agreement.

CUPW members across the country have been on strike since Nov. 15, and the parties remain far apart on issues including wage increases and staff planning for weekend deliveries. Since the strike, nonprofit organizations have seen a significant drop in donations, small business advocacy groups have raised concerns about disruption to the holiday shopping season and people living in rural and remote areas have struggled to access supplies. Govern- ment services such as deliv- ery of renewed passports and permanent resident cards have also been interrupted – during peak travel season. La- bour Minister Steven MacKin- non, who had previously ruled out legislating striking postal workers back to work, raised those issues when he told reporters on Dec. 15 that he would refer the dispute to the Canada Industrial Relations Board (CIRB).

“It is my view … that the parties are at an impasse. I have asked the CIRB, if they also determine that there is an impasse, to resume and continue their operations under the existing collective agreement until May 22, 2025,” he said.

Shortly before midnight on Dec. 15, CBC reported that after two days of hearings, the CIRB ruled that there was indeed an impasse. Mail delivery was set to resume on Dec. 17 at 8 a.m. No further information was available as of the QCT’s deadline.

“Canadians are fed up,” the minister said. “As minister of labour, I have a responsibility to protect Canadians, the public interest, by maintain- ing industrial peace and respecting the rights of the par- ties involved in this dispute. That is why I am here today to announce that I am providing a solution to promote favourable conditions for the resolution of this labour dispute and thus protect the interests of Canadians. Not only have the parties been unable to show any progress towards an agreement, the federal mediator has now informed me that the negotiations between both parties are now, in fact, going in the wrong direction.”

MacKinnon mandated labour commissioner William Kaplan to meet with both parties in the coming months to try to find a long-term solution at the negotiating table. “The government is commit- ted to collective bargaining. It’s not easy, but we’ve seen time and time again that it produces the strongest enduring agreements to the benefit of workers and employers alike.” In the interim, MacKinnon encouraged Canadians to donate to charities however possible.

CUPW national president Jan Scott called MacKinnon’s proposal “troubling.”

“We denounce in the strongest terms this assault on our constitutionally protected right to free and fair collective bargain and our right to strike,” she said in a statement. “We are going to continue to fight hard to get good negotiated collective agreements for our 55,000 members. We will continue to fight for fair wages, safe working conditions and to retire with dignity. We have been pushing Canada Post for years to expand services to generate more revenue. We must stand strong in the face of this abuse of power.”

Canada Post said it “looked forward to welcoming employees back to work” while remaining committed to the negotiations. Post office pick-up and dropoff are expected to resume on Dec. 19.