TORONTO - Some two million Canadians will find social assistance cheques in their mailboxes on Monday despite the ongoing dispute between Canada Post and its locked out employees that has left regular mail delivery in limbo.
The Crown corporation said Thursday -- a day after it locked out workers and suspend urban mail delivery across the country -- that the cheques will be delivered as scheduled June 20 under an agreement with the union representing the postal workers.
"Delivering during a work disruption is a huge challenge, but Canada Post is committed to delivering these important cheques to the Canadians who count on receiving them," it said.
Included are CPP, Old Age Security, Veterans' Affairs and Canada Tax Benefit cheques. Quebec's Child Assistance, Pension and Income Security cheques as well as Alberta Pension cheques will also be delivered that day.
Those cheques will be delivered the same day the federal government plans to table legislation to force the locked out postal employees back on the job.
Labour Minister Lisa Raitt said Thursday that she was going ahead with plans to pass a back-to-work law for the 48,000 members of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers, most of whom have been locked out since Wednesday after initiating rotating strikes on June 3.
The bill dealing with the postal workers is expected to be tabled
Monday, with debate beginning the following day.
Raitt's comments came after the federal government tabled back-to-work legislation that would have forced striking Air Canada employees back on the job sometime next week. But that law was rendered unnecessary less than an hour later when Air Canada and negotiators for its 3,800 customer service agents reached an agreement.
NDP Leader Jack Layton and Liberal Leader Bob Rae both accused the government of heavy-handed tactics to end the disputes, arguing there was no emergency requiring swift action.
But Raitt denied the government was setting a precedent by intervening in the two strikes so quickly after they began, and so soon after winning a majority election.
"When there's going to be a prolonged work stoppage that is going to effect the Canadian economy and that's going to impact on Canadians, the government is going to give their intention on how we're going to react," she said. Raitt said the decision would have been the same if the government was still in minority.
With both the NDP and Liberals pledging to fight the legislation, it was unclear whether it could pass by Thursday, when Parliament is scheduled to recess for the summer. However, the government could likely succeed by extending House hours or by limiting debate.
Regular mail delivery could resume as early as next week. But the Canadian Union of Postal Workers insists it doesn't want to be ordered back to work and accused Canada Post of escalating the dispute in order to incite the government to act.
Meanwhile, the Retail Council of Canada and the Canadian Bookseller Association quickly supported the government's plans, issuing a new release Thursday calling on all MPs to give "speedy passage" to the bill in order to "minimize the impact the postal lockout is having on retailers from coast to coast to coast.
"The Canadian economic recovery has just started to take hold," said Anne Kothawala, the retail council's senior vice-president for public affairs.
"The last thing retailers need at this juncture is the disruption to their business that this postal action is causing. We have members who rely on Canada Post to deliver online and catalogue sales to rural and remote communities that cannot be serviced in any other economical way."
After meeting with Canada Post president Deepak Chopra with little progress Thursday, the union said it would hold rallies in Toronto and Vancouver on Friday, in Halifax on the weekend and in Ottawa on Monday.
Chopra delivered a video announcement on the company's website to explain the company's decision to lock out employees.
"While the action may seem harsh, we did it intending to bring the issue to a head," he said. "This was one of the toughest decisions I've ever made. I'm painfully aware of the hardship it will cause our employees -- they all have families to feed and bills to pay."
However, he said, the alternative would have been to allow rotating strikes to go on for another two or three weeks followed by a full strike.
"Neither you nor Canada Post could afford that," he said in his public address, adding that the strikes have already cost Canada Post $100 million in lost revenue.
"We were bleeding revenue more and more each day but still paying wages for all but the fraction of union members who were striking."
The two sides had been in formal bargaining for seven months before the union began rolling work stoppages June 3.
The Crown corporation says the main sticking point was the union's demand for staffing levels beyond the capability of Canada Post, adding wages were not the key disagreement. The union has been emphasizing working conditions and safety issues as well as arguing that new employees would receive inferior wages and pensions.
Negotiators were to meet again Friday and planned to continue through the weekend, Canada Post said.
