The Liberal government is not considering back to work legislation in response to a possible lockout at Canada Post, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Tuesday.
Canada Post issued a 72-hour notice of a lockout early Tuesday morning. That means that postal workers could be locked out by Friday if negotiations with the union do not improve.
The last time postal workers were locked out by Canada Post, in 2011, they were eventually sent back to work through legislation passed by the Conservative government. According to Trudeau, the Liberal approach will be more hands-off.
“We do not feel, unlike previous governments, that it is the immediate responsibility to be heavy-handed,” he told reporters at a press conference in Quebec City. “We respect labour. We respect the need to come to terms at the bargaining table and that is what we are going to continue to work on.”
READ MORE: Canada Post issues 72-hour lockout notice to union
At issue is the pension agreement for new employees, and how the union’s rural and suburban mail carriers are paid. Negotiations have been ongoing since November, though on June 25, Canada Post presented the Canadian Union of Postal Workers with a final offer that it calls “fair and reasonable”, and the CUPW said is “trying to bully us.”
Rural mail carriers claim they’re not being paid for how much work they do. If delivering all their parcels takes longer than the allotted time, they’re not necessarily being compensated for the extra delivery time, said George Floresco, the chief CUPW negotiator for rural and suburban mail carriers.
“What we’re saying is if they’re delivering parcels beyond six and a half hours a day, pay them for that and don’t just give them a dollar a parcel. Pay them for the time it takes to do the work and if the volume is really heavy because parcels are growing then they have to get paid properly.”
READ MORE: Canada Post work stoppage – What are the negotiations about anyway?
In a press conference Tuesday morning, CUPW president Mike Palecek said that the tone of the negotiations hasn’t changed since the 2011 labour dispute. “Canada Post has refused to negotiate in good faith and the Conservatives still seem to be running the post office. Mr. Harper’s appointees are in place, and they haven’t changed their direction whatsoever.”
Canada Post said that it issued the lockout notice because its customers are already starting to flee the business due to the labour unrest. “Just the threat of a strike has the same impact on our business as an actual strike used to,” said spokesperson Jon Hamilton, adding the company has to readjust its staff.
“We’re trying to get a deal that is fair to our customers and fair to our employees.”
In a statement, Labour minister MaryAnn Mihychuk said that she remains hopeful that an agreement can be reached by the parties. “Our government supports a fair and balanced collective bargaining process,” she wrote. “I will continue to closely monitor the situation.”