Ottawa is taking steps to get striking postal workers back on the job in time for the busy Christmas season.
The federal government announced Wednesday that it is appointing a special mediator to help end rotating strikes across Canada by members of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW), and has said that it will table back-to-work legislation in Parliament if an agreement isn't reached by week’s end.
A written media statement from Labour Minister Patricia Hajdu said legislating an end to the dispute would be "a step we do not take lightly.
"For nearly a year, we have been supporting and encouraging both sides to reach a negotiated agreement," the statement reads. "We provided conciliation officers, appointed mediators, and offered voluntary arbitration. Despite all of this, limited progress was made and we have exhausted our options."
Canada Post's largest union started rotating strikes in the middle of October, and while the specific shutdowns are moving to new places each day, the aggregate affect has been enough to bring package delivery to a halt in most parts of the country. The postal service has asked foreign mail services to stop sending packages to Canada to avoid adding to the current backlog as the busy holiday shopping and shipping season begins.
Canada Post says there are currently more than 500 truckloads full of undelivered packages sitting idle at various facilities across the country. Ottawa tabling back to work legislation to end a postal strike is not new. In 2011, then Prime Minister Stephen Harper tabled back-to-work legislation when Canada Post locked out its employees after failed contract negotiations.
