The Industrial Relations Board ruled last night that talks between Canada Post and its 55,000 workers are at an impasse.

Last week Canada's labour minister Steven MacKinnon sent the month-long strike to hearings with the board this past weekend to assess whether a deal could be reached by year's end. If the board felt it could not, it was to force workers back for the holiday season and extend the previous contract to next May to give more negotiation time. The workers also secured a 5% pay bump from the Crown corporation for this period.

Canada Post has warned that it may take time to ramp operations back up after the shutdown.

The sides had been at the labour board already last week over the Canadian Union of Postal Workers’ (CUPW) complaint that Canada Post had illegally issued temporary layoffs to striking workers. In a mediated settlement, Canada Post had to withdraw those layoffs.

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Stark disagreements remain between sides  

A federally appointed mediator withdrew at the start of Dec. due to how far apart the sides were. Offers continued, but saw little movement; at a Nanaimo rally on Dec. 7 the Central Island East union president said the latest offer was worse than the previous one. Canada Post in turn dismissed the latest union offer, saying that its proposal for 19% in total wage increases over 4 years (down from 24%, intended to match inflation) remained too expensive. It argues that these wage increases, or making contracted staff full employees, would lead to "billions [in] unsustainable fixed costs."

The dispute goes beyond wages, though. Canada Post, its market share eaten into in recent years by product delivery services from private companies such as Amazon’s, argues that it is losing $200M+ per quarter. It plans to expand work to the weekends, but the union argues the current plan to do so is unnecessarily reliant on using part-timers who may not qualify for benefits. Canada Post argues that these jobs would be benefit-eligible and give temporary employees a path to permanence.

‍Also at issue: automation, rest time, disability pay, rural route job security, sorting/carrying responsibilities, and the physical demands of the job (e.g. route length & bag weight). CUPW has argued that on many of these fronts Canada Post is "steamrolling workers with random ideas they have to change work rules and impact our safety" and has not bargained in good faith.

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Feds’ latest labour intervention this year

Canada also stepped in during the rail strike and the port worker lockout last month, which had caused Vancouver-bound ships to pile up in Victoria waters. BC and Montreal dock workers have both, like rail workers did in August, filed constitutional challenges against the moves. They argue that imposing arbitration undermines their ability to collectively bargain and strike. The union for BC port foremen also seeks a judicial review of the order.

The federal government last legislated postal workers back to work in 2018. At the time, the Public Alliance of Canada argued that the move stripped workers of their right to be represented by their unions. CUPW argued similarly in weekend releases, saying that imposed arbitration and back-to-work legislation constitute a "deeply troubling pattern" and an "assault" on workers’ right to bargain and strike. It says that this "let[s] employers off the hook from bargaining in good faith [because] they know the government will bail them out" by stepping in.

Canada Post had not sought an arbitrator, but other business interests had as the mail disruptions caused disarray during this busy package season.

CUPW plans to rally at Deputy PM Chrystia Freeland's office today in protest against the labour minister stepping in.  

The federal NDP has said it will not support imposed arbitration, while labour minister Steven MacKinnon had long said he would not rely on arbitration--which technically he still has not done. His deployment of this holiday-season “time out” aims to thread the needle of intervention without binding arbitration while resetting negotiations that he says the federal mediator told him were "going in the wrong direction."

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'Twas a week before Christmas

The pause in the labour dispute may not mean the resolution of mail delivery problems; there are still backlogs at what is already the busiest time of the year. In recent weeks, many locals have turned to other mail carriers but have often dealt with the "absolute mayhem" of long lineups out the door and tall package piles inside. Some local businesses have felt the economic strain of switching to more expensive services such as Purolator and UPS, while others have relied on local deliveries and emphasized in-person markets in an effort to avoid those costs.

BC's Ombudsperson is now investigating after 40% of provincial social assistance cheques were allegedly not delivered last month. The next delivery date is Wednesday and the province said last week that it would be ready to get them out whether or nor mail service had resumed.