On Tuesday, December 17, Canada Post employees were forced back to work after a month-long strike. More than 55,000 employees had been striking. According to the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW):
“As you may know by now, the Minister of Labour, Steve MacKinnon, is using his powers under Section 107 of the Canada Labour Code to request that the Canadian Industrial Relations Board (CIRB) determine if the CUPW and Canada Post can negotiate a tentative agreement in the very near future,” CUPW states on their website. “We denounce in the strongest terms this assault on our constitutionally protected right to free and fair collective bargaining and our right to strike.”
On December 13, the Minister of Labour established a process with the Canada Industrial Relations Board (CIRB) to assess the likelihood of Canada Post and the CUPW reaching agreements by the end of the year. After two days of hearings, the CIRB issued a ruling confirming that both parties had reached an impasse. This resulted in the CIRB ordering over 55,000 striking postal workers back to work.
“Given the time and duration of the strike, when our operations resume, we will need to begin processing the mail and parcels trapped in our network,” Canada Post said in a press release. “It will take time to clear our networks, so customers should expect delays in processing and delivery.”
For postal workers, the first 48 hours on the job will focus on this, and they will not receive or pick up new products until Thursday, December 19.
The terms of the existing CUPW collective agreement are still in place and have been extended until May 22, 2025.
Collective agreements between Canada Post and CUPW expired on December 31, 2023, for the RSMC (Rural and Suburban Mail Carriers) unit and on January 31, 2024, for the urban unit.
“Our commitment has always been to reach negotiated agreements with CUPW that would help us better serve the changing needs of Canadians and provide good jobs to those who provide the service. We remain committed to doing so within this new process while also meeting the postal needs of Canadians,” said Canada Post.