Minister of Labour Lisa Raitt is scheduled to introduce “An Act to provide for the resumption and continuation of postal services” at about 3pm local time, although actual debate on the bill may start tomorrow since it is officially Opposition Day today.

Canada Post has locked its workers out of its facilities since last week, following 12 days of rotating strikes by members of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers.

The two sides have been negotiating a new collective bargaining agreement since October, but even after strike action and the lock-out, remain “far apart” on issues including wage increases, pension arrangements and sick leave system reforms.

The bill being introduced shares the same name as the last piece of legislation to force a restart of Canada’s postal services, breaking work stoppages that occurred in 1997.

That particular legislation made a postal strike and a lock-out by Canada Post illegal, imposed a temporary bargaining agreement, and required a government-appointed mediator-arbitrator to listen to the two sides and draw up a new collective bargaining agreement within 90 days – whether or not the two sides agree on the deal.

Last week the official opposition party, the centre-left New Democratic Party, said it would oppose back-to-work legislation, with leader Jack Layton suggesting to reporters it could even attempt to filibuster the bill this week. Party members passed a motion yesterday calling for their MPs to support a negotiated, rather than forced settlement between Canada Post and the union.

Ahead of the expected Parliamentary debate this week, which could see the back-to-work legislation in place as early as Thursday, the union accused Canada Post of undertaking the entire negotiation process in anticipation of a government bill to support its position.

Denis Lemelin, National President and Chief Negotiator for the 48,000 members of CUPW’s urban unit, the unit subject to the collective bargaining, said of the Corporation: “They began negotiations determined to attack the rights and benefits of the workers who have made Canada Post a profitable company for 16 years. Now they have been rewarded for their intransigence by the Harper government.”

Losses

Canada Post has been promoting its digital mail service e-post as a mail alternative

Even if it returns to work, this month’s work stoppages have had a huge impact on Canada Post, which has lost at least $100m since postal strikes began on June 3, with alternative communications channels being used by the public even before the national lock-out was imposed.

Package delivery firm Puralator, which is majority-owned by Canada Post, has reported a 16% increase in volumes during the postal strikes, although some private sector delivery firms have been concerned about capacity limitations, with UPS imposing certain restrictions on extra volumes.

The US Postal Service suspended its acceptance of mail bound for Canada effective Saturday (June 18), expecting that the back-to-work legislation could take until the end of this week to complete.

Giselle Valera, USPS vice president of Global Business said: “We will continue to closely monitor the strike situation, and once Canada Post resumes operations, the U.S. Postal Service will again begin accepting mail for Canada. We also will then resume processing any Canadian-destined mail currently held in our network.”

Over the weekend, Canada Post has been running full-colour advertising in 19 Canadian newspapers promoting its digital mail service, epost, as the “ideal solution to receive, pay and manage bills” during the postal lock-out.

Canadian businesses are keen to see legislation passed to force resumption of postal services.

The Retail Council of Canada said the uncertainty of the postal work stoppage was having a “substantial” impact on the Canadian economy and for businesses large and small.

“The Canadian economic recovery has just started to take hold,” said Anne Kothawala, Senior Vice President of Public Affairs for the retail group. “The last thing retailers need at this juncture is the disruption to their business that this postal action is causing. We have members who rely on Canada Post to deliver online and catalogue sales to rural and remote communities that cannot be serviced in any other economical way.”

Source: James Cartledge, Post&Parcel

Tags: Canada, Canada Post, Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW), labour relations, Strikes