The Canadian Union of Postal Workers issued a strike notice on Tuesday, and labour activists are calling on the government to respect the right to collective bargaining. Calls come after multiple actions this year from the Minister of Labour Steve Mackinnon forced public sector workers, mostly in the freight and transport industries, back on the job.
Postal workers, represented by CUPW, have been bargaining for a new collective agreement since November 2023. The union’s main concerns regard wages and paid days off. The union is asking for 10 medical and seven personal days but the Canada Post Corporation is set on offering 13 personal days.
Urban mail workers make about $20 to $29 dollars and hour at the moment, and rural workers’ wages are determined by the amount of sorting, deliveries and driving one does. CUPW is demanding a 23.79 per cent wage increase over four years for both urban and rural workers. The most recent publicly available offer from Canada Post proposes a 11.97 per cent wage increase over four years,
Last time CUPW was bargaining with Canada Post, in 2018, workers were legislated off the picket line when the federal government passed back-to-work legislation. Recently, there has been a new form of government interference in labour relations.
This week, labour minister Steven MacKinnon used section 107 of the labour code to force binding arbitration onto striking port workers in Montreal and BC
Feds trample on right to bargain
In a press conference on Tuesday, MacKinnon said the lack of activity at Canada’s largest Eastern and Western ports pose too high of an economic, commercial and health risk.
Unions, however, say this is a blow to labour rights. The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), which has represented the Montreal port workers since 1990, said MacKinnon’s actions “trample” labour rights and do not properly address the cause of the work stoppage.
“These are lockouts, not strikes,” said Candace Rennick, CUPE’s national secretary-treasurer. “The employers are causing the work stoppage, then asking the government to intervene,”
Minister Mackinnon used section 107 of the labour code in August as well. In doing so, he brought rail workers into binding arbitration. This move similarly sparked outrage and disappointment.
Labour experts and analysts say the repeated use of section 107 emboldened employers to rely on government intervention.
“There is no incentive for them to bargain in good faith because they know the federal government will back their side,” Rennick said.
After the rail strike this summer, pilots at Air Canada were set to begin strike action in September. Pilots and their employer reached a deal on the eve of the strike deadline. Before they did, leaders from various business lobby groups including the Business Council of Canada, convened in Ottawa to call on the government to prevent an airline strike.
D.T. Cochrane, senior economist at the Canadian Labour Congress, has previously called this type of action “pathetic,” saying bargaining must happen at the table. He said employers will turn to the government to intervene when negotiations do not skew towards their interests.
Larry Savage, professor of Labour Studies and Brock University, said the recent wave of government intervention in collective bargaining is unwelcome. During a panel discussion about defending the right to strike, Savage said CUPW could very possibly experience similar unwelcome interventions soon.
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