As a strike by 55,000 Canada Post employees nears the one-month mark with no end in sight, the Canada Industrial Relations board is hearing a union complaint Wednesday that the company acted illegally when it laid off some workers as the strike began.
The unfair labour practice complaint by the Canadian Union of Postal Workers asks the CIRB to order Canada Post to rescind the layoffs.
“It is imperative that the board take swift and decisive action to communicate to (Canada Post), and most importantly, to … employees, that a strategy of illegal intimidation of workers exercising their right to strike will not be tolerated,” the union’s application to the CIRB said. The complaint also said the layoffs undercut support among workers for the strike, calling the impact “corrosive.”
“As a result of the mass layoffs, members are questioning the union’s negotiating strategy and doubting whether the union can protect them from … reprisals,” the application said. “Union officers and representatives are having to work hard to counter the corrosive effects of (Canada Post’s) intimidation tactics on union solidarity and morale on the picket lines.”
In its official response to the union’s application, Canada Post denied that the layoffs were an intimidation tactic, and argued they were a response to a drop in parcel business that the company saw ahead of the strike, which began Nov. 15.
“Canada Post’s plan to implement temporary layoffs was designed to address its changing operational and business realities, including a steep decline in parcel volumes. … This decline in parcel volumes was triggered by the threat of a work stoppage,” the company argued in its response. “Canada Post simply cannot afford to pay its full workforce in the face of a steep decline in parcel volumes, and the acute pressures that Canada Post’s business faces more generally.”
The company said 328 employees were told they’d be laid off when the strike was over.
Tuesday, the company responded to the union’s latest contract proposal, saying it would add $2.9 billion to Canada Post’s costs over the next four years.
The union proposal, delivered through a federally appointed arbitrator Monday, lowered wage demands to a 19 per cent increase over four years from the previous 24. It also included a 20-hour per week guarantee for part-time workers.
A series of back-and-forth proposals began last Sunday, after the union and Canada Post received a stern, closed-door talking-to from MacKinnon.
Still, no formal mediation had taken place since Nov. 28, when the mediator called off talks, saying the two sides were too far apart to reach a deal. The strike began Nov. 15.
Canada Post has previously said it offered wage increases totalling 11.5 per cent over four years and additional paid leave, while protecting the defined benefit pension and job security provisions.
The union had called for a cumulative wage hike of 24 per cent over four years, as well as suggesting that Canada Post expand into banking.
The company is seeking to provide weekend deliveries and have a greater share of its staff working part-time. The union wants full-time workers to do weekend delivery, while the company wants to hire part-time staff to do the job.
