Ottawa is getting involved in the Canada Post strike, which is now into its 29th day.
Federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon says the two sides are at an impasse and he’s applying a solution.
“I have asked the Canada Industrial Relations Board, if they also determine that there is an impasse, to order Canada Post and all employees represented by CUP-W to resume and continue their operations and duties and extend the terms of the existing collective agreements until May 22, 2025,” he says.
If approved, workers could be back on the job next week.
MacKinnon says an industrial inquiry commission will be formed and will dig into the structural issues preventing the labour dispute from being resolved.
“The union denounces in the strongest terms this assault on our constitutionally protected right to collectively bargain and to strike,” states CUP-W, in a release. “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.”
About 55,000 Canadian Union of Postal Workers, including those locally, began their strike on Nov. 15.
