When Labour Minister Lisa Raitt said the federal government could force striking Canada Post staff back to work, labour types bristled.

They charged that the feds were siding with the Crown corporation's management, while NDP Leader Jack Layton accused the government of potentially taking away the union's right to strike.

Through a larger lens, union leaders denounced the potential back-to-work legislation as an overall trend to erode worker's hard-earned rights.

Suddenly, what had been a relatively small nuisance with a series of smaller labour disruptions had turned into a national showdown. Complicating matters, Air Canada has also been dealing with a potential strike.

Though the Canadian Union of Postal Workers had mounted rotating strikes in different cities during the 12-day labour disruption, it didn't really hit home until union leaders announced that the strikes were to hit Montreal and Toronto.

With that announcement, Canada Post locked out all of its 48,000 workers. Given that Canada's two largest cities account for more than half of all mail traffic, the system would have been effectively shut down anyway, postal management said. Plus, they also said the rotating 24-hour strikes had already cost $100 million.

Critics accused Canada Post of creating a crisis that would allow the government to impose an anti-labour resolution.

Raitt, however, said it was still in the best interests of both sides to reach a deal before the legislation dropped.

"Nobody knows what's in that legislation," she said Wednesday.

Still, many businesses that rely on the postal system to make money welcomed the news, as did free-market types who feel that unions are archaic and unnecessary in today's labour market.

But does back-to-work legislation really work against the unions?

According to Howard Levitt, a labour lawyer based in Toronto, back-to-work legislation isn't always beneficial to management. In fact, he said that the government's involvement could actually work in favour of the unions.

"The real problem is that management is not acting in its own interest," Levitt said in an email to CTV.ca.

"Here is a perfect opportunity for these employers to beat their unions, who have no public support and essentially impose terms."

Levitt said that the public has little sympathy for both the Air Canada and Canada Post unions, and Canadians would likely allow the strikes to go on indefinitely. In such long-term disruptions, management gains the upper hand, said Levitt.

"This provides both employers an unprecedented opportunity to permanently weaken the union and impose contracts on their terms," he said.

"Instead, they are seeking return-to-work legislation, which will result in the normally union-friendly terms imposed by most arbitrators."

Two years ago, municipal workers in Toronto and Windsor were not legislated back to work, despite rotting garbage that pilled up in both cities. Bucking that trend, the Ontario government this year passed new legislation making Toronto's transit system an essential service.

In short, Levitt said that governments in Canada appear "incapable of playing hardball, however opportune the circumstances."

As the news of the potential legislation spread earlier this month, the postal union said that back-to-work bills are "unnecessary, unjust, and counterproductive."

"We never got a chance in this round of bargaining," said Denis Lemelin, CUPW national president.

"Now, as we call for a meeting with Canada Post's President, the Harper government is going to rescue him from any responsibility to negotiate realistically with the workers."

However, Levitt and Lemelin share some common ground on the next point. According to Lemelin, when workers are forced back onto the job, nobody wins.

"If this bill passed, we would have the very outcome that nobody wants," he said. "An imposed settlement brings down terms that neither party has agreed to."

So if postal workers are ordered back onto their routes before an agreement is reached, who wins?

Business wins, said manager Jack McLaughlin, from Winnipeg's Pal Distributors.

"I hope the government legislates them back to work," he told CTV Winnipeg this week, adding that the strike has crippled his cash-flow because he uses the system to send and receive cheques.

"If they don't, there will be layoffs in manufacturing because we'll run out of cash."