After a marathon around-the-clock filibuster that lasted more than 58 hours, weary members of the House of Commons passed legislation on Saturday evening ordering thousands of locked-out Canada Post employees back to work.
Canada Post workers in Winnipeg gathered at the Corydon office of Conservative MP Joyce Bateman Saturday morning. They were protesting the lockout and Conservative-led back-to-work legislation, which passed Saturday evening.
On Tuesday, Canada Post employees in Winnipeg staged a sit-in inside Conservative MP Shelly Glover's office.
Postal workers had started rotating strikes across the country in early June before they were locked out on June 14.
The Conservatives had been trying to table back-to-work legislation to end the postal lockout since Thursday. The debate over Bill C-6 lasted until Saturday in the House of Commons, as the NDP championed the union's right to continue with the collective bargaining process.
Key issues in the bargaining between the union and Canada Post included a two-tier wage system proposed by Canada Post where new workers would begin at a lower wage than previous hires. They would still reach the same maximum salary, but it would take them longer to get there. Union reps say this isn't fair.
"I don't see the new MPs taking a 20 per cent pay cut for their first few years," said Bob Tyre, president of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW), Winnipeg local 856.
Tyre says worker safety was another key issue.
Canada Post employees say they want to go back to work, but they don't want to be forced back by the government.
But a union spokesman said Thursday there are no plans for workers to defy the back-to-work law, since the penalties are so punitive. They range from $1,000 a day for rank-and-file members to $100,000 a day for the union.
The debate was the longest for back-to-work legislation in Canada's history.
-- with a report from CTV's Caroline Barghout
-- with files from the Canadian Press
