One strike down, one to go

POSTMEDIA NEWS

One labour dispute down, one to go.

Air Canada staff are headed back to work today after the union representing its customer service staff reached a tentative agreement with the airline.

But a quick solution to ending the second dispute, between Canada Post and its unionized employees, will be much harder to come by.

Canada Post and the Canadian Postal Workers Union have agreed to deliver more than two million social assistance cheques nationally on Monday, June 20.

Canada Pension Plan, Old Age Security, Veterans Affairs Pension Plan and the Canada Child Tax Benefit will be delivered. Quebec pension, child assistance and income security cheques will also be delivered.

All post offices will be open Monday for cheque pickup only for anyone who receives their regular mail at a post office or postal box.

But the NDP says it will hold up passage of back-to-work legislation for locked-out Canada Post workers. The official Opposition says the legislation impairs the ability of unionized postal workers to come to a fair agreement with Canada Post.

The legislation will be introduced for debate early next week.

The government had also tabled back-to-work legislation to put an end to the Air Canada dispute. The point became moot when the parties reached a deal on Thursday.

Canada Post suspended mail operations across the country late Tuesday night, following nearly two weeks of rotating strikes by unionized postal workers. The postal service said it was bleeding money during the strike and accumulated losses of roughly $100 million because of strike action.

Union leaders and Canada Post CEO Deepak Chopra met Thursday.

Following the meeting, the union said it saw no sign that Canada Post would back away from some of its demands.

In an online video to unionized employees, Chopra said union demands would adversely affect the postal service’s bottom line. Canada Post has seen a decline in package volume while also seeing an increase in the area it serves, Chopra said.

“Less mail every year delivered at a higher and higher cost. It simply doesn’t add up,” he said in the video.

“The union would have us create jobs by making us less efficient. This is not the way to go when your revenues are declining.”

He said the lockout, which was his decision, was designed to bring the labour impasse to an end.