What's up with all the strikes lately?
- Thread starter mentalfloss
- Start date
The conservatives are going with political theater and it seems to be biting them in the ass now..
Backroom talks came close to ending postal standoff
OTTAWA—Backroom negotiations aimed at getting Canada Post workers back on the job produced at least two separate deals that came close to ending the political filibuster on Parliament Hill and the labour stoppage, the Star has learned. But the deals fell through — including an apparent agreement between Canada Post and its workers — and insiders are pointing the finger at the Prime Minister’s Office as the reason.
Interviews with officials familiar with the talks reveal they came close to breaking the stalemate.
Indeed, even before the filibuster got underway Thursday night, the NDP thought a deal had been reached with the Conservatives to amend the back-to-work legislation. The changes would have taken final offer selection off the table and provided for eight weeks mediation overseen by an arbitrator.
Emails predicted success. “Looks like this will work out,” read one email written by one person close to the talks and obtained by the Star.
But just over an hour later, the Conservatives had put the final offer back on the table and the message from Raitt’s office was “there is no deal.”
“I don’t know what happened. There’s lots of speculation. Some people thought maybe the Prime Minister’s Office had a hand in it,” one official who was party to the discussions said Wednesday.
Last Friday, talks involving a federal mediator appear to have brought Canada Post and the union close to a settlement. The union wanted final offer selection replaced by mediation-arbitration which attempts to find middle ground in contract disputes. Comartin and Godin met with Raitt. There was agreement that if the company and the union could agree on this, the back-to-work legislation would be withdrawn.
By Friday evening, both Canada Post and the union had a tentative settlement that outlined agreement on some key issues such as wage rate, according to a source. Other outstanding issues would be sent to arbitration.
But after midnight came word that Raitt’s office had apparently turned down the deal, a source said.
Backroom talks came close to ending postal standoff - thestar.com
Backroom talks came close to ending postal standoff
OTTAWA—Backroom negotiations aimed at getting Canada Post workers back on the job produced at least two separate deals that came close to ending the political filibuster on Parliament Hill and the labour stoppage, the Star has learned. But the deals fell through — including an apparent agreement between Canada Post and its workers — and insiders are pointing the finger at the Prime Minister’s Office as the reason.
Interviews with officials familiar with the talks reveal they came close to breaking the stalemate.
Indeed, even before the filibuster got underway Thursday night, the NDP thought a deal had been reached with the Conservatives to amend the back-to-work legislation. The changes would have taken final offer selection off the table and provided for eight weeks mediation overseen by an arbitrator.
Emails predicted success. “Looks like this will work out,” read one email written by one person close to the talks and obtained by the Star.
But just over an hour later, the Conservatives had put the final offer back on the table and the message from Raitt’s office was “there is no deal.”
“I don’t know what happened. There’s lots of speculation. Some people thought maybe the Prime Minister’s Office had a hand in it,” one official who was party to the discussions said Wednesday.
Last Friday, talks involving a federal mediator appear to have brought Canada Post and the union close to a settlement. The union wanted final offer selection replaced by mediation-arbitration which attempts to find middle ground in contract disputes. Comartin and Godin met with Raitt. There was agreement that if the company and the union could agree on this, the back-to-work legislation would be withdrawn.
By Friday evening, both Canada Post and the union had a tentative settlement that outlined agreement on some key issues such as wage rate, according to a source. Other outstanding issues would be sent to arbitration.
But after midnight came word that Raitt’s office had apparently turned down the deal, a source said.
Backroom talks came close to ending postal standoff - thestar.com
Overtime ban leaves mail service a bit behind
Customers on 16 Nanaimo mail routes didn't receive their mail Wednesday, despite federal backto-work legislation. An overtime ban by Canada Post is preventing some letter carriers catching up on a backlog of mail built up during the two-week labour disruption that ended this week.
Federal back-to-work legislation forced an end to a lockout, allowing the mail to start moving again Tuesday.
Normally Canada Post requires letter carriers to deliver all mail on their route, even if it means booking overtime. Letter carriers are also assigned to cover for sick carriers, and are paid overtime to do so. The ban means an end to either practice.
Mail volumes are up due to the work stoppage but with an over-time ban implemented this week carriers are being told to return all undelivered mail to the depot, to avoid working beyond their regular eight-hour shift. Sick carriers' mail is simply being left until the carrier returns.
Overtime ban leaves mail service a bit behind
Customers on 16 Nanaimo mail routes didn't receive their mail Wednesday, despite federal backto-work legislation. An overtime ban by Canada Post is preventing some letter carriers catching up on a backlog of mail built up during the two-week labour disruption that ended this week.
Federal back-to-work legislation forced an end to a lockout, allowing the mail to start moving again Tuesday.
Normally Canada Post requires letter carriers to deliver all mail on their route, even if it means booking overtime. Letter carriers are also assigned to cover for sick carriers, and are paid overtime to do so. The ban means an end to either practice.
Mail volumes are up due to the work stoppage but with an over-time ban implemented this week carriers are being told to return all undelivered mail to the depot, to avoid working beyond their regular eight-hour shift. Sick carriers' mail is simply being left until the carrier returns.
Overtime ban leaves mail service a bit behind
How do we know there is no desire for the workers to work overtime?
We'll never know fully, but what we do know is that there is no opportunity whatsoever - which renders any mail delivery there impossible at this time.
It's a ban.
"..carriers are being told to return all undelivered mail to the depot, to avoid working beyond their regular eight-hour shift."
Now why would Canada post want to prevent their workers from working overtime? Especially after this lockout, this looks like the perfect time for workers to make some extra dough...
Oh wait, I think I gave it away.
was that what they were thinking when they created the lock outs, or when they created the OT ban?
Both.
They new the government would bail them out, and they knew they would save now. They also know that they have been profiting quite nicely for the last 10 years.
Management also knows that the inconvenience and pain of a strike is a 2-way street.
Why on Earth would Canada Post bend over to help the strikers that created this entire event? As it stands, the nation has been faring just-fine-thanks during this disruption; so why bail-out the starving union at this point?
If the nation was faring just fine, why did we need legislation to end the walkout?
Why is more time a waste if the nation was faring just fine?
The real solution lies in privatizing the industry... In the meantime, the status quo is obviously not acceptable to the union and certainly not reasonable for the public at large