Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon is sending the labour dispute between Canada Post and the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) to the Canada Industrial Relations Board.
MacKinnon said Friday that if the board determines negotiations between the parties are at an impasse, it has been directed to order striking CUPW members back to work under the existing collective agreement until May 22, 2025.
If they’re serious about getting what they want, they might have to ignore a back-to-work order, like CUPE did in Ontario last year. That said they might want to wait for this review and report to finish. They should probably also challenge the order like these guys did. Back-to-work feels okay politically when there’s compliance. The moment the government has to impose prohibitive fines or worse upon workers, the optics shift dramatically. All of a sudden people’s feelings change from “These folks don’t have it that bad, it’s okay to force them back to work.” to “The government will bankrupt these people if they refuse to work? That’s insane.” I think people’s support depends on how they perceive the union members conditions compared to theirs. When they are comparable, people feel it’s okay for union members to endure what they endure. If there’s a significant difference in a way that people wouldn’t want to endure themselves, tbey would not feel okay with union members enduring that. Ignoring back-to-work order would require such measures.
This practice definitely needs to be challeneged. Large companies handling national infrastructure simply refusing to reasonably negotiate until the government gets antsy, is not a fair or neutral process that respects worker’s constitutional rights.
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If they’re serious about getting what they want, they might have to ignore a back-to-work order, like CUPE did in Ontario last year. That said they might want to wait for this review and report to finish. They should probably also challenge the order like these guys did. Back-to-work feels okay politically when there’s compliance. The moment the government has to impose prohibitive fines or worse upon workers, the optics shift dramatically. All of a sudden people’s feelings change from “These folks don’t have it that bad, it’s okay to force them back to work.” to “The government will bankrupt these people if they refuse to work? That’s insane.” I think people’s support depends on how they perceive the union members conditions compared to theirs. When they are comparable, people feel it’s okay for union members to endure what they endure. If there’s a significant difference in a way that people wouldn’t want to endure themselves, tbey would not feel okay with union members enduring that. Ignoring back-to-work order would require such measures.
This practice definitely needs to be challeneged. Large companies handling national infrastructure simply refusing to reasonably negotiate until the government gets antsy, is not a fair or neutral process that respects worker’s constitutional rights.