Postal workers are delivering 2 million federal pension and social assistance cheques across Canada despite a lockout Monday as the threat of back-to-work legislation looms.

The 9,000 letter carriers are volunteering to provide this service as they have in past labour disputes.

“Going back to work to deal with the cheques may be difficult under the circumstances,” said Canadian Union of Postal Workers national president Denis Lemelin in a news release.

“But our members understand that our dispute is with Canada Post and the government, not with pensioners and people on low incomes. Postal workers will deliver.”

The union launched rotating strikes, usually for 24 hours, across the country on June 3 with some disruptions to service.

But after the locals walked off the jobs in Greater Toronto and Montreal on Tuesday, Canada Post shut down its operations altogether, saying the company has to save costs as mail volumes plummeted in half.

Canada Post said if its losses are too steep, that could mean a burden for taxpayers or eventually higher service costs for customers.

Labour Minister Lisa Raitt initially said she didn’t want to intervene in the dispute, but served notice to the House of Commons that the government would order the strikers back to work after Canada Post locked out its workers.

Raitt was expected to introduce legislation on Monday or Tuesday.

Last Thursday, she tabled similar legislation for striking Air Canada customer service agents; within hours, the two sides had reached a tentative deal.

Union officials criticized Raitt for bringing in legislation just hours after the Air Canada strike began, calling it an attack on the collective bargaining process.

Raitt said she only wanted to turn up the pressure on the parties to reach an agreement.

But the threat of legislation doesn’t seem be working in postal dispute.

Canada Post spokesman Jon Hamilton said there were no face-to-face meetings over the weekend, but meetings are scheduled to resume on Monday.

“We’re not seeing a sense of urgency from the union,” Hamilton said.

“We’re committed to collective bargaining. Even if legislation is tabled today, there’s still plenty of time to hammer out a deal.”

With falling revenues and declining mail volumes due to email and social media, Canada Post wants to cut labour costs, especially since wages and benefits make up 64 per cent of costs.

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It has proposed a different starting wage for new hires at $19 an hour and different pension rules, though a defined benefit pension would remain.

For the union, top issues including health and safety concerns, sick leave for current employees and the proposal for different wages and pensions for new hires.

The union, which has been in a legal strike position since May 25, got a nearly 95 per cent strike mandate from its members. Its contract expired on Jan. 31.

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