Union to take federal government to court over Canada Post saga
The union representing Canada Post employees is taking the Trudeau government to court over the legislation that ended rotating strikes by its members.
According to the Globe and Mail website, The Canadian Union of Postal Workers said on Tuesday it plans to file a constitutional challenge in Ontario Superior Court, arguing Bill C-89 violated the rights of workers to bargain new contracts.
“You cannot legislate labour peace,” CUPW national president Mike Palecek said in a statement announcing the court challenge. “This law violates our right to free collective bargaining under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.”
The legal move comes one day after the government appointed a mediator to bring the labour dispute to an end.
The union claims Canada Post created a ‘false emergency’ over a backlog of parcels but the union denies there is a huge backlog.
Canada Post’s latest statement on their website on the state of play of delivery over the holiday season says:
“Significant and uneven parcel backlogs persist across the country and continue to challenge our operations as heavy holiday parcel volumes arrive daily. Understanding the central role we play in delivering the holidays for Canadians and Canadian retailers, it is our priority to deliver as much as possible before Christmas. However, existing backlogs, along with other complicating factors such as protest blockades at our facilities and any potential severe winter weather events, means delivery will be hampered and unpredictable through to January.”
Employees are being offered voluntary over-time and almost 4,000 additional seasonal employees have been brought on to provide processing and delivery support.
The company has increased its fleet with 1400 rental vehicles for additional deliveries and an additional 500 to keep product moving through the network.
“As the backlog is uneven across the country, we are also moving volumes between major centres in an effort to get parcels to their destination faster,” it adds.
