MPs vote to end postal strike

AMY MINSKY
Postmedia News

A bill ordering postal workers back to their routes passed in the House of Commons on Saturday evening after being debated by MPs for more than 48 hours.

Labour Minister Lisa Raitt, who introduced the bill Monday, said postal workers will be ordered back to work 24 hours after the bill becomes law.

The bill still has to pass in the Senate -a process the federal government has said can be accomplished within one day -and senators will be in the red chamber Sunday to debate the legislation.

Bill C6 passed third reading shortly after 8 p.m. Ottawa time by a count of 158-113, with Liberals and New Democrats opposing its implementation. Its passage followed debate and filibusters that kept the Commons sitting since Thursday.

“This is not in the interest of the employees, not in the interest of the employers and not in the interest of Canadians,”said Liberal MP Stéphane Dion.

But Raitt said the bill “meets the requirement of the Charter (of Rights).”

Earlier Saturday, the NDP proposed an amendment to address their main contention: that the bill mandates lower wages than those proposed by Canada Post during its negotiations with the union.

Liberal MP Rodger Cuzner called it the “among the most concerning aspects of the bill.”

As debate on back-to-work legislation lurched toward the finish line Saturday afternoon, unionized Canada Post employees thanked the NDP for delaying government efforts to order the 50,000 lockedout workers back on the job.

In a letter to NDP Leader Jack Layton, the president of the union said the stalling tactics bought them time, but it hasn’t been enough to end the impasse.

“During the evening of June 24, we held extensive discussions,” Denis Lamelin wrote, noting the union, Raitt and federal mediation services also met Saturday morning.

“Despite your efforts and the support and solidarity activities of tens of thousands of people across the country, the negotiations were unsuccessful,” the union said.

New Democrat MP Yvon Godin said Saturday the party was pleased it was able to give the workers “three days’ space.

“This discussion created negotiations between the union of the postal workers and the Canada Post. Sadly, negotiations broke.”

Canada Post spokesman Anick Losier said both sides remained “far apart” following a meeting Saturday morning, and no further negotiations were planned.

Because the feuding sides haven’t been able to reach an agreement, the union has asked the NDP to move the process forward so amendments to the bill can be introduced.

Earlier Saturday, the bill passed second reading by 158 votes to 112.

On Saturday evening, MPs began debating amendments to the bill. One of the amendments put forward by the NDP would give the lockedout workers the wage increases included in Canada Post’s last contract offer -wages which are higher than those written into the government’s bill.

As soon as Raitt introduced the bill on Monday -less than one week after the employees were locked out -the NDP vowed to draw out the debate to allow postal workers and their managers more time to strike their own deal instead of being bound to one written by the government.

Canada Post locked out its employees on June 14, after the Canadian Union of Postal Workers conducted 12 days of rotating strikes.

The Crown corporation blamed the two weeks of rotating strikes for estimated losses of $100 million.

Canada Post and the union went through seven months of failed negotiations before the rotating strikes began.

Aside from wages, changing the sick leave plan has also caused contention between the two sides; Canada Post had fought for a shortterm disability plan to replace the practice of banking sick days.