Saturday, November 24, 2018 | NATIONAL
by Mary P Brooke | West Shore Voice News
MPs in the House of Commons hung in there Friday night — until 1 a.m. this morning November 24 — to pass a motion that would see Bill C-89 end the rotating strike action of postal workers (though not immediately — the process would go to mediation, then to binding arbitration if mediation fails).
The impact of the strike on the Canadian economy, consumers and families during the holiday season appears to have been the push that saw Prime Minister Justin Trudeau make good on his statement that ‘no options were off the table’.
Witnesses during the Committee of the Whole on Saturday November 24 included Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Labour Patty Hajdu and department staff; interim president and CEO of Canada Post Jessica McDonald; and president of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers Mike Palecek.
A day to assess all the fresh information is not unreasonable. “It’s a lot to absorb,” one senator said in TV news coverage.
The Senate is comprised of 105 senators. While Conservative senators are likely to vote against Bill C-89 and Liberal senators for it, there are now several independent senators. So an outcome is not yet certain.
The Senate will reconvene on Monday November 26 at 2 pm Eastern (11 am Pacific) to consider third reading. If the upper chamber approves the bill, it will then go to the Governor General for royal assent. The bill would go into effect at 12 noon (Eastern) on the day after receiving royal assent. That would be at noon on Tuesday, November 27 at the earliest.
If passed, the bill would appoint a mediator-arbitrator to help Canada Post and CUPW come to an agreement. If mediation fails, the two sides would enter binding arbitration.
All of this would see mail service fully resumed no earlier than sometime later next week.
Members of CUPW have held rotating walkouts since October 22, causing massive backlogs of unsorted mail and packages at postal depots.
CUPW continued their strike activity November 24 only in BC — Nanaimo, Royal City, Maple Ridge, Surrey and the Fraser Valley. This could be seen as an additional pressure tactic as the return-by-mail of more Electoral Reform Referendum ballots is still awaited by Elections BC. Earlier this week, Canada Post said they were putting additional resources toward getting ballots returned to Elections BC.
Strikes ended in these Ontario locations: Ottawa, Timmins, North Bay, Englehart, New Liskeard, Kirkland Lake, Welland, Maple, Stouffville, St. Catharines, Niagara Falls, Fort Erie and at the concept store in Richmond Hill. Strikes also ended in Quebec: in the Sherbrooke area and in Sainte-Thérèse-de-Blainville.
Canada Post says it “remains at the table to find the common ground needed to reach a settlement with the union — we continue to operate in an attempt to minimize further service impacts.”
==== More:
Editorial (November 16, 2018): Parcels for Christmas and negotiating labour disputes
News (November 16, 2018): Impact on Christmas and Electoral Reform Referendum