THUNDER BAY — “I feel like I'm on a roller coaster.”
Leo Favreau said he was "completely caught off guard" by a Thursday morning announcement by Jobs and Families Minister Patty Hajdu about the ongoing labour dispute between Canada Post and the Canadian Union of Postal Workers. She said she was ordering the bargaining units representing urban as well as rural and suburban postal workers to vote on what Canada Post is calling its “final offers.”
“Not happy, not happy at all,” said Favreau in a Thursday afternoon interview with Dougall Media. The CUPW Local 620 president represents about 260 postal workers across Northwestern Ontario.
The union has been pushing for the dispute to be resolved through binding arbitration, but the two sides couldn’t agree on terms of reference under which that arbitration would happen. Until Thursday, Hajdu had been supportive of a negotiated settlement through mediation and, while posting to X (formerly Twitter) on June 4 that “arbitration is not the preferred path to an agreement for either side,” urged Canada Post and the union to “pursue these two paths with urgency.”
“As of last week, we were heading towards binding arbitration and the union was working towards that,” Favreau said. “Canada Post said they don't want it, and suddenly we're going to be forced to vote.”
“Makes no sense to me.”
The vote will be administered by the Canadian Industrial Relations Board.
“We welcome the minister's decision as it will provide employees with the opportunity to have a voice and vote on a new collective agreement at a critical point in our history,” said a statement from Canada Post issued in a media release on Thursday.
“This ratification vote comes as the parties remain at an impasse after 18 months of negotiations, a national strike and an Industrial Inquiry Commission which detailed the challenges we face, and what needs to be done to begin addressing them.”
Favreau said he doesn’t agree and that arbitration — which he called “a fair shake” — was the best way to settle this.
“We were hoping for binding arbitration and that way there was a light at the end of the tunnel and this could all be over and we could actually just go back to doing our jobs,” he said
“Now I see this as an extension of … everything that has been happening for the last two years and we're just going to continue to do this.”
When Canada Post requested a forced vote, national union representatives called it “undue government interference,” in a statement.
Hajdu posted to X earlier on Thursday that “it is in the public interest that the membership of CUPW has the opportunity to vote on Canada Post’s last offers.”
Favreau said he’s concerned there could be a divide between the two bargaining units, given the specifics of the two offers.
“In my way of thinking, is they want to get the urban and rural (carriers) fighting against each other by having one group say yes and one group say no,” he said.
“It seems to be divided right down that line.”
Favreau said he doesn’t yet know when the votes will happen or if there will be any escalated labour action by the union or a lockout by Canada Post in the meantime.
