On Sunday night the government passed Bill C-6 ordering the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) back to work.
John Caine, Canada Post spokesman said to Lakes District News that once the back to work legislation had been passed Canada Post workers were back on the job by Monday night, with mail being starting to be delivered yesterday.
“There has been an accumulation of mail to be processed from overseas so it will take a while to stabilize the situation,” Caine said.
Post offices that were previously closed were also reopened yesterday and sealed mailboxes were unsealed so that mail can again flow into the system.
Caine said that any mail that was in the system before the disruption has been secured for processing and delivery.
“The government is clearly willing to side with employers to grind down wages and working conditions,” said CUPW national president Denis Lemelin in a press release Monday. “Its decision to use back to work legislation in the Canada Post and Air Canada disputes was not neutral. The conservatives have shown themselves to be very anti-worker after only two months of majority government,” he said.
Lemelin said the government’s assertion that its legislation was necessary to protect the economy is illogical.
He said postal workers had already offered to return to work.
“The government has attacked our right to freely negotiate the conditions we work under,” said Lemelin. “It appears that only markets and employers will have freedoms in this country.”
