By David Doorey, Professor of Work Law & Labour Relations, York University
I have published a few articles now on the Canada Post bargaining and work stoppage:
Can Canada Post Lay-Off Strikers? (November 28)
The End of Secondary Picketing, Again? (December 9)
Feds Dust Off Section 107 Again at Canada Post, But With a Twist (December 13)
Since I wrote these posts, there’s been several interesting developments. Here is a year end wrap up of where things sit:
Liberal’s Magic Section 107 Referral Results in CIRB Ordering Pause in Work Stoppage Until May 2025
As explained in this post, the Liberal government used their little magical Section 107 want to punt the work stoppage to the CIRB. The CIRB ruled that the parties were not likely to settle their dispute in December and therefore it implemented the Minister of Labour’s order (1) ending the work stoppage until May and (2) extending the terms of the expired collective agreement until May. News broke that the parties had also agreed to a 5% raise to be implemented now. So the strike is over, at least until May 2025.
Manitoba Court Rejects Purolator Attempt for Injunction Winnipeg
Around the same time that the Ontario court was issuing an injunction to stop picketing at Purolator in Toronto, a Manitoba court rejected an application filed by Purolator seeking the same order at a Purolator facility in Winnipeg. In that case, the judge emphasized that freedom of expression and the right to picket applies to secondary picketing and that courts should not be quick to interfere in peaceful picketing at secondary businesses, even when the picketing is slowing down entry and exit from the business. The judge noted that courts need to “avoid the snare of equating some degree of minor tortious conduct against a third party in a secondary picket as justification to shut down free speech protected by the Charter.” The Manitoba court denied the injunction. The judge distinguished the Ontario decision granting the injunction in Toronto based on the degree of interference involved, which was less in Winnipeg on the evidence.
CUPW Appeals the Ontario Decision Granting an Injunction at Purolator
CUPW has appealed the Ontario decision granting the injunction. Mark me down as predicting a CUPW win here. The Manitoba decision helps CUPW in my opinion. As I noted in my review of the Ontario decision, the fact that the judge jumped right to banning all picketing and leafletting on the road way out of the facility (he told picketers they could stand in a parking lot off to the side) demonstrates a lack of balancing of the sort the Manitoba engaged in. The type of picketing that the Manitoba court permitted was similar to that which CUPW had conducted initially in Toronto, before it ramped up the degree of interference on the following day. The Ontario judge should at least have considered crafting an order that permitted the CUPW picketers to return to the manner of picketing they’d engage in initially, which involved stopping trucks for a few minutes to discuss the strike. The Ontario judge thought that was fine, as did the Manitoba judge. I think the Ontario judge over reached in his order. We’ll see.
Canada Post Capitulates on its Silly Decision to “Lay Off” strikers
The CIRB convened an expedited hearing to decide if Canada Post’s weird decision to “lay off” striking CUPW members was illegal. As I explained here, that move was almost certainly illegal. Not surprisingly, at the hearing, Canada Post capitulated and settled the complaint by rescinding the layoff notices and agreeing that it would not layoff CUPW members during the strike. And so ends one of the weirder employer moves in recent years.
So that’s where things stand near the end of 2024. We will keep an eye on the Canada Post situation in the new year, including the work of the Special Investigator, William Kaplan, appointed by the feds to study impediments to a deal at Canada Post.
Happy new year, all!