Union rallies, Canada Post pres. speaks as gov’t prepares back-to-work legislation
Posted June 16, 2011 3:22 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
As the federal government prepares back-to-work legislation, locked-out Canada Post workers continue to picket in front of various postal outlets across the GTA, including a large demonstration in Scarborough.
“Negotiations are off and Canada Post has walked away from the table,” Mike Duquette, the Scarborough local CUPW president, told the crowd.
“They’re just going to wait for the legislation. My information on the legislation is that it will be probably table [Thursday] in the House of Commons,” Duquette added.
Striking workers from 10 different areas converged at the company facility at 280 Progress Ave., near Midland Avenue, at 11 a.m. on Thursday. Pickets continued at the Canada Post sorting facilities in Mississauga and on Eastern Avenue.
Locking out those employees and suspending operations “was one of the toughest decisions I ever made,” Canada Post’s president and CEO Deepak Chopra said in a video message on the company’s website.
“While the action may seem harsh, we did it intending to bring the issue to a head,” Chopra said.
Federal Labour Minister Lisa Raiit served notice Wednesday of her plans to table strike-ending legislation Thursday — a move that could come up for a vote in Parliament next week.
“(The strike) is now affecting the Canadian economy and it has an effect on third-party Canadians who are not part of this dispute, but are the ones who are suffering from the hardship,” Raitt said.
The federal government implemented back-to-work legislation in 1997 after postal workers had been on strike for two weeks.
“If this bill passed, we would have the very outcome that nobody wants,” Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) president Denis Lemelin said in a statement Thursday. “An imposed settlement brings down terms that neither party has agreed to.”
“We believe in free speech, free association, and free collective bargaining. This legislation hurts the values that our country stands for and is an attack on workers’ rights and standard of living.”
Both the Liberals and NDP have said they’ll oppose the move. The postal union claims the Crown corporation locked out its workers to prompt a government response.
The labour minister served the same notice for striking Air Canada customer service and sales staff on Wednesday.
The CUPW began a series of rotating strikes June 3 after seven months of failed contract negotiations. Proposed lower wages and pensions for new hires and staffing levels are key sticking points.
The Crown corporation said it has to look at its bottom line and claims letter mail business has declined 17 per cent since 2006.
Canada Post locked out workers and suspended mail delivery in urban areas late Tuesday. The federal government is hoping the two sides can come to a consensus before legislation takes effect.
With files from the Canadian Press.
