Monday, November 26 ~ NATIONAL.
This evening November 26 in Ottawa, the Senate has approved back-to-work legislation that will lead to the end of a series of rotating strikes. Bill C-89 passed with 53 votes in favour, 25 against, and four abstentions.
In the House of Commons Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had said the decision to produce back-to-work legislation was “not taken lightly”.
If a bill receives Royal Assent, the actions that follow may commence at noon the following day. So if the Governor General gives C-89 royal assent this evening, then the next step is for mediation that would be possible on Tuesday November 27 at 12 noon (Eastern). Mediation has already failed, so it’s likely that postal service will ultimately resume sometime on Tuesday or Wednesday.
Negotiations between the Canadian Union of Postal Workers and the Crown Corporation have been ongoing for nearly a year. Rotating strikes began across the country almost six weeks ago on October 22, which in BC was the same day that Elections BC started mailing out ballots for the Electoral Reform Referendum. That was also just ahead of the busiest mailing season given Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and Christmas shopping were coming up.
Postal strikes had continued in various centers across Canada today (including Vancouver). The many weeks of walkouts have led to backlogs of mail and parcel deliveries in Vancouver, Toronto, and Montreal. Canada Post asked 190 countries around the world to hold parcels that are destined for Canada, to help stave off the storage and processing overload here in Canada.
Last week, Canada Post said over $1.5 million parcels and pieces of mail are backlogged. They also said that in BC they had applied “additional resources” to help get voter ballots back to Elections BC before a November 30 deadline. On Friday, November 23, Elections BC extended the return deadline to 4:30 pm on Friday, December 7.
The Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) says in a statement that more injuries will happen, more unpaid hours will happen in suburban/rural areas, and that forced overtime will continue in urban areas. vowed to keep fighting. In a statement issued Monday evening, CUPW president Mike Palacek said: “If the Trudeau government thought that passing this legislation would end the dispute, they’ve made a mistake.”
Postal workers are rightly dismayed and outraged,” said Mike Palecek, CUPW National President in a release. “This law violates of our right to free collective bargaining under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.” However, the Senate passing the legislation may show an indication of leaning toward consideration of postal mail as an essential service.
The machinations of corporation vs worker are still the evident scenario. But perhaps this time around the strike will continue to foster awareness among Canadians about the importance of large corporations for providing jobs and keeping services running (see Editorial).
==== More | Related:
Senate hears from Canada Post and workers union (November 24, 2018)
Canada Post: expect long delivery delays into 2019 (November 20, 2018):
Editorial (November 16, 2018): Parcels for Christmas and negotiating labour disputes
Postal Strike News (November 16, 2018): Impact on Christmas and Electoral Reform Referendum