Canada Post and its union have finally reached a tentative agreement for postal workers to vote on, offering improved terms compared with the Crown corporation’s “best and final” offer in May.
On Monday, Canada Post and the Canadian Union of Postal Workers said its bargaining team have finalized contractual language for the collective agreements, which include higher wage hikes, enhanced benefits and a weekend parcel delivery model, after the two parties agreed on key principles last month.
For the first time in the two-year labour dispute, the union said it would recommend a “yes” vote on these agreements to members in the Urban Postal Operations and Rural and Suburban Mail Carriers bargaining units.
“The tentative agreements deliver wage increases, with protections against inflation, improved benefits, and job security,” said Jan Simpson, CUPW National President, in a written statement on Monday.
“These five-year agreements provide much-needed stability to postal workers and the communities across the country that we are proud to serve.”
In August, CUPW members rejected Canada Post’s “final offer” in a vote that was imposed by the federal government and monitored by the Canada Industrial Relations Board. The proposed contract was a four-year deal with total wage increases of about 13.59 per cent.
The new tentative agreements would extend the contracts to five years, running until Jan. 31, 2029, and raise the first-year wage increase to 6.5 per cent from six per cent in the May offer. That would also be followed by a three per cent increase in year two, with annual wage increases in years three and four tied to the rate of inflation.
“I think it’s a ratifiable agreement,” said York University labour studies professor Steven Tufts. “The bargaining team has now been at this for two years … They think this is probably the best that they’re going to get at this time.”
Tufts said workers will be pleased to see that, as the union’s press release notes, it successfully pushed back against the use of “dynamic routing” and load levelling included in the May offer — measures that would have adjusted workers’ tasks based on changes in mail volume.
The union’s release said it has also improved the health benefits for employees with better income replacement for injury-on-duty leave and leave under the short-term disability program.
Canada Post will maintain the existing job security provisions for the urban employees and enhance the provisions for rural postal workers, the crown corporation said in its statement.
However, Tufts said he has yet to see any contract language that “puts up a significant roadblock” to Canada Post becoming a smaller operation in terms of total employment over the next decade.
In late September, Ottawa gave the green light for a broad restructuring of the financially-struggling Crown corporation, to fight an “existential crisis,” including the elimination of home delivery, increased use of community mailboxes and the elimination of some rural post offices.
Canada Post submitted its overhaul plan in early November, but no details have been released yet.
The job protection provision “protects existing workers, but it doesn’t necessarily do things for maintaining the level of employment,” said Tufts.
There is also a new operating model to support weekend parcel delivery, but Canada Post would not provide further details on what the new model looks like.
“We have nothing further to add pending ratification,” said Lisa Liu, media relations, Canada Post.
Rafael Gomez, director of the University of Toronto’s Centre for Industrial Relations and Human Resources, said he also believes that, given that only a third of postal workers voted in favour of the May offer, the tentative agreement — reached through negotiation this time — will likely be approved by a majority.
“In the end, is it a deal that seems not to take back things from workers? Absolutely, it’s not a concession bargaining,” said Gomez,
He added that the union managed to keep Canada Post from changing its defined benefit pension plan to a defined contribution plan.
Gomez said the tentative agreement, reached after a two-year labour dispute and two national strikes, is “unprecedented” and shows that the employer didn’t make its best offer earlier, which he blamed on repeated government interference.
“I think it again showcases what happens when governments stop being neutral and begin to lose that setting up the rules,” he said. “Allowing the parties to negotiate is always the best answer.”
CUPW said it will be managing a ratification vote for CUPW-represented employees.
During the ratification process, the parties have agreed not to engage in any strike or lockout activity, the release added.
