Amid the ongoing Canada Post strike, federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon announced Friday that he is asking the Canada Industrial Relations Board (CIRB) to order workers back on the job if it agrees with his determination there is an “impasse” in negotiations.
If the CIRB agrees, MacKinnon says the labour relations board would order Canada Post and all employees represented by the Canadian Union of Postal Workers to resume operations and extend the terms of the existing collective agreements until May 2025.
“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,” he said during a Friday media conference.
“So I’m here today to announce that I am applying a solution to promote conditions favorable to the settlement of this labor dispute and protect the interests of all Canadians.”
When asked about the resumption of services and whether Christmas gifts and letters could be sent, MacKinnon stated that both parties must be heard by CIRB.
He emphasized that if the CIRB reaches the same conclusion as he has that the parties are at an “impasse,” he says the board could issue a directive for workers to be back by next week.
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The strike began on Nov. 15 after Canada Post workers and the employer failed to reach an agreement. The union was seeking wage increases, better pensions and improved health benefits.
In the past, federal governments have used back-to-work legislation during Canada Post strikes, including in 2018 and 2011, to resolve disputes and restore essential services.
, a postal worker strike was followed by a two-week lockout imposed by Canada Post management. However, the Conservative government passed back-to-work legislation to end the disruption. , Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government passed back-to-work legislation to resolve another Canada Post strike.
MacKinnon has previously said that Ottawa is not looking to force an end to the strike and that the government would remain on the sidelines.
The postal shutdown was costing small businesses millions each day, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business said, and impacting Canadians across the country.
On Friday, the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) released a statement saying it “denounces in the strongest terms this assault on our constitutionally protected right to collectively bargain and to strike.”
“This order continues a deeply troubling pattern in which the government uses its arbitrary powers to let employers off the hook, drag their feet, and refuse to bargain in good faith with workers and their unions,” the statement read.
CUPW added that because it is a “rapidly developing situation” it has not had time to review all the details.
“What we do know is that postal workers are being forced to return to work without new negotiated collective agreements in place,” it said, adding that it is currently reviewing the order and considering its options moving forward.
— With files from the Canadian Press
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