Canadian government asks labor board to intervene in Canada Post strike as Christmas nears

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OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — Mail could begin moving again in Canada as early as next week after the federal government moved Friday to end a nearly monthlong work stoppage at Canada Post.

Labor Minister Steven MacKinnon announced he’s referred the dispute to the Canada Industrial Relations Board, with the aim of ordering the nearly 55,000 workers back to their posts and extending the current collective agreement until May 22, 2025 — if the board determines a deal isn’t within immediate reach.

“Canadians are rightly fed up,” MacKinnon said.

With Christmas fast approaching, there was no apparent movement at the bargaining table.

MacKinnon had previously rebuffed calls for Ottawa to intervene, saying it’s up to the two sides to work out a deal. But he said Canadians — especially small businesses, people in remote communities and Indigenous people — have suffered greatly as a result of the strike.

The key issues include wages, job security and how to staff a proposed expansion into weekend delivery.

MacKinnon said Canada Post is built to deliver letters but letter volumes have dropped dramatically and there is a highly competitive parcel delivery market.

“There are major structural changes in that industry that have to be accounted for. There are workers aspirations that have to be accounted for,” MacKinnon said. “Those are interests that are tough to reconcile.”

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government previously forced the country’s two major railroads into arbitration, ending that work stoppage.

“The Union denounces in the strongest terms this assault on our constitutionally protected right to collectively bargain and to strike,” the Canadian Union of Postal Workers said in a statement. “This order continues a deeply troubling pattern in which the government uses its arbitrary powers to let employers off the hook.”

The Canadian Federation of Independent Business welcomed the move. It estimates small businesses have been losing a combined $100 million Canadian (US$70 million) every day.

“This will be too late to salvage any of the Christmas holiday season for small businesses,” CFIB president Dan Kelly said in a statement.

“With a massive backlog, it will be nearly impossible for any new shipments to make it to Canadians before Christmas through Canada Post,” he said.