Ottawa directs labour board to order striking Canada Post employees back to work

The federal government has directed the Canadian Industrial Relations Board to order Canada Post workers back to their jobs, and to extend their existing collective agreement until May 2025.

Labour Minister Steve MacKinnon made the announcement on Friday morning, citing limited progress to reach a negotiated settlement between both sides. Mr. MacKinnon said a federal mediator appointed by the government during the strike informed him that negotiations were going in the wrong direction, leaving Canada Post and the Canadian Union of Postal Workers unable to reach an agreement.

“This has been a month in which Canadians from coast to coast to coast, small businesses, as well as Canadians in remote regions and Indigenous communities have suffered greatly. As Minister of Labour I have a responsibility to protect Canadians and the public’s interest,” he said.

The federal labour board will now determine if the Labour Minister’s assessment that Canada Post and CUPW are at an impasse is accurate. If so, they will order postal workers back to their jobs next week. Mr. MacKinnon told reporters that he hoped the CIRB will make that decision quickly so that Canada Post’s operations will resume as soon as possible.

CUPW denounced the government’s move in a statement, calling it an “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 union said in a statement.

Over 55,000 Canada Post workers have been on a nationwide strike for almost a month now, during a crucial holiday season shopping period. Talks between the Canadian Union of Postal Workers and Canada Post had been slow-moving since a mediator appointed by the federal government suspended negotiations more than two weeks ago.

Canada Post strike updates: Ottawa directs labour board to order striking employees back to work

The sticking points in the dispute revolved around wages and the use of part-time workers to perform weekend deliveries. The union’s most recent proposal on wages — a 19 per cent increase over four years — was less than what they had demanded (22 per cent) before the strike began. Canada Post has not budged from its proposal of a 11.5 per cent wage increase, over four years.

The federal government is also establishing an inquiry commission headed by independent mediator and arbitrator William Kaplan, to examine the business model of Canada Post and the structural issues that have prevented a resolution of the present labour dispute. The commission will present its findings to the Minister of Labour by May 15 next year. Mr. MacKinnon said he hoped the findings of the commission will provide a “path forward” to Canada Post and CUPW negotiating a new collective agreement.

The minister emphasized that his decision to intervene in the dispute was premised upon the fact that the strike had proven too disruptive to the Canadian public, especially small businesses which he said had endured “severe economic harm” over the past month.

This year alone, the Liberal government has intervened five times to resolve labour disputes at ports, railways and airlines. In each of those instances, the government utilized section 107 of the Canada Labour Code, to order the Canadian Industrial Relations Board to force negotiating parties into binding arbitration.

This intervention is slightly different, in that the government is not ordering binding arbitration, but directing the CIRB to extend the terms of the present collective agreement and get postal workers back to their jobs while buying time for both sides to reach a deal.

Larry Savage, associate professor of labour studies at Brock University, told the Globe and Mail that inquiry commissions can be helpful at addressing structural problems, but even the best recommendations cannot fix broken relationships between the parties. “You need an element of trust and mutual respect for collective bargaining to work effectively.”

A bigger discussion on Canada Post’s future is overdue and the government’s move creates an opening for this broader conversation, said Steven Tufts, a professor of labour geography at York University.

“What’s happening is the government is trying to not remove the right to strike but to buy some time to cool down, and start again after the new year while at the same time getting people back to work,” he added.