The federal government has tabled legislation to force Canada Post employees back to work after being on rotating strikes for the past month, Labour Minister Patty Hajdu announced November 22.
Workers have been on one-day rotating walkouts over the past month, and a mediator, labour arbitration lawyer Morton Mitchnick, has been appointed to assist with negotiations.
“If required, the legislation would set out a process by which the parties would return to work while continuing negotiations with an independent mediator-arbitrator,” Hajdu said.
“Our government does not take this step lightly, and it is intended as a last resort.”
In a statement, the labour minister said the work stoppage has had a “significant negative impact.” The Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) has disputed this, saying that while it welcomes the mediator, the workers are feeling “undermined by government tactics.”
In a November 21 statement, the CUPW Toronto local said that while Canada Post has reported a backlog of “hundreds of trailers,” there is actually a backlog of about seventy trailers, that according to the statement, could be cleared in a few days.
CUPW national president Mike Palacek said the union is convinced Canada Post has “manufactured a crisis” in order to get the government to step in and force workers back on the job.
“If so, that’s a huge concern and it will further poison our work environment and labour relations for years and years to come,” Palacek said.
@EmmaHampelBIV
