Canada Post union head in Hamilton warns of 'race to the bottom' after back-to-work order ends strike

For postal worker Tracey Langille, the end to a roughly one-month strike has been a "roller-coaster" of frustration. 

About 55,000 union members returned to work at Canada Post on Tuesday after the Canada Industrial Relations Board ordered an end to their roughly one-month strike. 

"I was in shock," Langille said, adding she did not expect the government to force union members back to work after so long. This was her third strike at Canada Post.

The Burlington, Ont., letter carrier is also president of Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) Local 548, which represents about 1,600 members across 16 workplaces in the Hamilton area. Most members she's heard from are "angry and upset" with the federal government, she said. 

Canada Post agreed to give workers a five per cent wage increase retroactive to when their collective agreements expired. Otherwise, workers returned under their existing contracts, which were extended to May so bargaining can continue.

For its part, CUPW called the board's order a "clear violation" of members' rights, and plans to challenge it at the board and in court.

"We have waited far too long for our issues to be resolved, in collective bargaining, but, once again, the government has stepped in, tipping the scales in the employer's favour," CUPW national president Jan Simpson said in a statement on Tuesday. "Their interference will make us wait longer and add other issues to the table."

Whenever the government intervenes in a strike, issues are left unsettled, Langille said.

"Canada Post always negotiates with us like the government is going to give them what they want.

"Postal workers aren't just looking at this as an attack on postal workers," she said, but as "an attack on labour."

Federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon appointed a commission to review issues that prevented a negotiated agreement and make related recommendations. 

"Our commitment has always been to reach negotiated agreements with the [CUPW] that would help us better serve the changing needs of Canadians and provide good jobs," Canada Post said in a statement on Dec. 13. "We remain committed to doing so within this new process while also meeting the postal needs of Canadians."

Across Canada, CUPW members expressed displeasure with being forced back to work. Some picketed as long as possible while certain locals considered defying the order.

That was a discussion in Langille's local, she said, but they agreed to follow the directions of the national union and return to work.