Canadian Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon has ordered the Canadian Industrial Relations Board to send Canada Post employees back to work if they cannot reach an agreement with their employer soon.

BBC News reports the move, announced December 13, is an attempt to end a nearly month-long strike by some 55,000 postal workers that began November 15, over pay and working conditions.

The two sides have failed to reach an agreement, with federal mediators concluding a few weeks ago that negotiations were too far apart.In a statement on December 13, the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) denounced the government's order as "trampling on workers’ rights," calling the action an "assault on our constitutionally protected right to collectively bargain and to strike."

Canada Post said in a statement that it looks forward to welcoming its employees back to work and resuming its services, adding that it remains committed to reaching a negotiated agreement with the union, while "also meeting the postal needs of Canadians."

The Canadian Industrial Relations Board (CIRB) is expected to rule on Minister MacKinnon's request in the week beginning December 16. The order would mandate striking employees to go back to work under their existing collective agreement until May 22, by which time the minister hopes a new agreement will be in place.

This the third time this year that Canada’s Liberal government has stepped in to halt a labor dispute. In August, it ordered an end to work stoppages at the country's two largest railway companies. And in November, the CIRB ordered a resumption of operations at all affected Canadian ports, after dockworkers at two terminals at the Port of Montreal — whose labor deal expired at the end of 2023 — went on strike on October 31.