Adds comments by federal labour minister paragraphs 2, 7-8, background paragraphs 1, 5, 10
Nov 15 (Reuters) - About 55,000 Canada Post workers went on strike for the second time in six years on Friday after their union said it had failed to reach a pay deal with the postal operator in the run-up to the holiday season.
Federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon, who has twice this year moved to end work disputes in other sectors, made clear he was not considering another intervention for the time being.
The union is demanding wage increases in line with inflation, cost-of-living adjustment payments to be rolled into the basic wage rate, and safe working conditions. The union had issued a three-day strike notice earlier this week.
"After a year of bargaining with little progress, postal workers made the difficult decision to strike," the Canadian Union of Postal Workers said in a statement.
Separately, Canada Post said operations would shut down during the strike.
If the strike drags on, it could boost business for private rivals United Parcel Service UPS.N and FedEx FDX.N.
In November 2018, the Liberal government pushed through back-to-work legislation to end a month-long strike by Canada Post employees.
Earlier this week, the Liberal government ordered an end to disputes at Canada's two biggest ports and in August, it put an end to work stoppages at the two largest railway companies.
"I'm not looking at any other solution other than negotiation right now," MacKinnon told reporters in Montreal when asked about the dispute.
"We are going to continue to support the parties in any way we can and make sure that they are able to try and get a negotiated agreement."
MacKinnon said on Thursday that he had formally appointed a special mediator between Canada Post and the workers' union.
(Reporting by Devika Nair and Shubham Kalia in Bengaluru and David Ljunggren in Ottawa;Editing by Abinaya Vijayaraghavan and Marguerita Choy)
((Devika.MadhusudhananNair@thomsonreuters.com;))
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