More than three weeks have passed since the federal labor minister issued an order for a vote among Canadian postal workers on the “final offer” made by the government agency, but a voting date has not yet been set.

The Canadian postal service and the union representing the workers said that the decision is now in the hands of the Canadian Industrial Relations Board (CIRB), at a time when the union described the process as “a state of chaos and confusion.”

This setback comes after nearly 18 months of negotiations between Canada Post and the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW), which witnessed successive waves of partial strikes and a continuous ban on overtime work to this day.

In a written response to inquiries from Global News on July 4 about the timing of the vote, a spokesperson for Canada Post said, “We currently have no updates to provide. We have not yet received dates for the voting.”

The agency added: “Both parties, Canada Post and CUPW, continue to work with the Industrial Relations Board to prepare for the vote.”

When the minister's order was issued, the agency stated that the vote would take place “as soon as possible.” However, in its latest statement, it confirmed that the board “will issue a notice to both parties specifying the voting period, which has not yet happened.”

For its part, a representative of the Industrial Relations Board stated that the board “is working diligently with all parties to move forward with this complex vote,” but acknowledged that it “is currently unable to provide a specific date for its occurrence.”

In contrast, the union expressed its disappointment regarding what its members are facing, saying in a statement:

“Although the order specified that the vote would take place as soon as possible, it quickly became clear that neither the government nor the Industrial Relations Board was prepared for the challenge of overseeing a vote involving 50,000 workers across the country.”

The statement added: “So far, the process of registering voters has been chaotic and confusing. This experience has undermined the confidence of many of our members in this vote. We have not yet received any official dates for the voting.”

The union also published a bulletin on its website indicating that some of its members have filed official complaints with the board, accusing Canada Post of engaging in “unfair behavior” by negotiating directly with employees and circumventing the union's exclusive rights in collective bargaining.

The union's bulletin stated: “The Canada Post Corporation chose to negotiate directly with the members and undermine the union's exclusive rights, in an attempt to tarnish its reputation.”

In other updates, Canada Post announced on Monday that it launched an employee email database on June 27 to facilitate participation in the vote, setting a registration deadline that ends on July 7 at 11:59 PM Eastern Time, stating that this step was taken based on the guidance of the Industrial Relations Board.