After 37 days of rotating strikes, Canada Post workers were ordered to get back on the job by a federal legislation that was passed on Tuesday, November 27th.
Bill C-89, called for an end to the Canadian Union of Postal Workers’ (CUPW) strikes, citing concerns about small businesses incurring losses during the holiday season.
It also assigned an independent mediator-arbitrator to work with both sides to continue negotiations that will allow them to come to a collective agreement.
However, the corporation has issued a warning about parcel delivery backlogs that may cause delays over the next several weeks – and you can expect delays to hold ups to last as late as January 2019.
The backlogs, originally caused by the rotating strikes, have been made worse by Black Friday and Cyber Monday orders.
International parcels will be further delayed until March 2019, as they require screening by the Canada Border Services Agency. Letter backlogs are expected to be cleared up by December 25th.
In a statement, the CUPW announced that even though Canada Post workers are not allowed to strike anymore, other unions have set up picket-lines at the Pacific Processing Centre – the third largest mail plant in the country.
“You cannot legislate labour peace,” said CUPW national president Mike Palecek.
“There are fifty thousand union members that have been prohibited from picketing at post offices in this country, and three million who haven’t. We are not the only ones willing to defend the right of free collective bargaining.”
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