Legislation that would put postal workers back on the job remains stalled in the House of Commons as opposition members of Parliament attempt to filibuster the government’s move.
The government introduced the legislation Tuesday but procedural wrangling is preventing passage of the bill.
The refusal took the form of an all night filibuster Thursday that was still continuing as the Gazette went to press Friday night.
After a series of rotating strikes in different cities by postal workers, Canada Post locked out carriers on June 14, suspending mail delivery across the country.
The legislation would send the dispute between Canada Post and the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) to arbitration. An arbitrator would have to choose between the final offer of one side or the other. The decision would be binding.
Alberta’s lone NDP MP Linda Duncan said the government’s move to legislate an end to the dispute is unnecessary because it wasn’t postal workers who walked off the job.
If it wanted to, the government could tell Canada Post to simply resume service, she said.
“They could easily go to Canada Post and say ‘end the lockout’ and the mail would resume on Monday.”
Duncan believes postal workers have been unfairly vilified in this situation because they are being forced to return to jobs they never wanted to leave.
She said the government is fostering that perception by continuing to refer to the situation as a strike.
“Every time they talk about this, they call it a strike, which they know full well it isn’t.”
The current bill also sets the new wage structure for Canada Post, giving workers raises of 1.75 per cent and 1.5 per cent in the first two years of the contract and two per cent in the last two years.
That offer is less generous than Canada Post’s last offer, which allowed for raises of 1.9 per cent in the first three years and two per cent in the last year of the contract. CUPW rejected that offer due to other concerns.
Duncan said the NDP is putting up a strong position on this bill because it fears it could be a model for future negotiations with public employees.
“The big scare is this is a precedent, that if they got away with these bully tactics, they will use them in the future.”
Anick Losier, a spokesperson for Canada Post, said talks between the corporation and CUPW broke off Wednesday night with both sides far apart.
She said the union simply isn’t being realistic.
“They haven’t tried to work with us so we can keep the company viable for the next 40 years.”
Losier said the Canada Post is not optimistic about the negotiations and the corporation is working on a plan to resume delivery if the legislation passes.
She said she didn’t have all the details as to how that would work.
“It is going to take a while for us to get back to normal, we will start back right away, but will that mean everyone will get all their mail the next day? No.”
The Gazette attempted to contact local Conservative MP Brent Rathgeber, as well as Bev Ray president of the Edmonton Chapter of the CUPW. Neither returned phone calls by press deadline.
