Just over a day before 55,000 Canada Post employees could be back on the picket line, the Crown corporation presented its workers Wednesday with a new contract — but it might not be enough to avoid another strike.
The offer was presented to the Canadian Union of Postal Workers at a meeting in Ottawa with a mediator. Earlier this week, CUPW gave Canada Post 72 hours’ strike notice, and workers could be back on the picket line as of 12:01 a.m. Friday.
The four-year contract offer includes the creation of new, part-time carrier job categories to help Canada Post extend parcel delivery to weekends, as well as the use of “dynamic routing” at 10 mail-sorting facilities. Dynamic routing means carriers could see their routes shift daily to accommodate changes in volume.
In a press release, Canada Post said the offer also includes total wage increases of 13 per cent for existing employees, with a six per cent increase in the first year, followed by increases of three, two and two per cent.
“Canada Post today presented new global offers to the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW), demonstrating a commitment to reach agreements and maintain continuity of postal services for Canadians,” Canada Post said in the release.
The Crown corporation also credited a report released last week by veteran mediator William Kaplan, and stressed the need to avoid another strike.
“Building on the important work of the Industrial Inquiry Commission (IIC) and the findings and recommendations in its final report, the parties must now bring urgency to negotiations. Another labour disruption would be costly and disruptive for employees, small businesses and the millions of Canadians who rely on the postal system,” Canada Post said.
In a post on the union’s website shortly before the offer was presented, CUPW president Jan Simpson said the union would be taking a close look at the offer.
“We will take the time to carefully review the details … to ensure they align with the priorities and needs of our members. We will provide a comprehensive update once we’ve completed our review and analysis,” Simpson said.
Union negotiator Jim Gallant said in broadcast interviews earlier this week that CUPW would like to take two weeks to look at any new offer.
Wednesday, Canada Post criticized the request for a two-week delay.
“After two years of discussions, a lengthy strike and a five-month pause for the Industrial Inquiry Commission, our employees, customers and Canadians are looking for the certainty that only agreements can provide. Further delay is in no one’s interest,” the Crown corporation said in a written statement.
The president of CUPW’s Toronto local blasted the late-arriving offer, and said Canada Post’s decision not to accept a two-week pause was a slap in the face that ensures some kind of “strike action” will take place Friday.
“All of a sudden, at the 11th or 12th hour they present a global offer, and don’t even give us two weeks to look at it? The government paused things for five months,” said a frustrated CUPW Local 626 president Mark Lubinski.
Canada Post negotiators, said Lubinski, were clearly waiting to see Kaplan’s report before presenting its new offer. Had it come in November, Lubinski said, it may well have helped avoid at least some of the 32-day strike seen late last year.
“They were waiting for the leverage they’d get from the Kaplan report. Now they’re showing their total disrespect for their employees and for Canadians,” he said.
While Canada Post’s latest offer is better than earlier ones, it’s still unclear whether it will be enough to head off another strike, labour relations experts said.
There’s division within the union — both among the leadership and membership — about the new part-time job categories, said Stephanie Ross, a labour relations professor at McMaster University.
“The restructuring is a non-starter for some people,” said Ross. “Will they feel there’s enough in this offer to compensate for the potential reorganization and reduction of their workload in the core part of letter carriers’ work? It’s unclear.”
And, said Ross, releasing details of the offer publicly at the same time as it’s presented to the union is clearly a Canada Post pressure tactic that could end up creating more bad blood.
“There will be people who are angry about this, because it brings the negotiations into the public eye in a way that potentially makes the union seem like it’s unreasonable,” said Ross. “That’s not a move you make when you’re trying to make friends. That’s a move you make when you’ve lost patience.”
Still, said University of Toronto professor Rafael Gomez, the new offer seems like progress, at least on the surface.
“They might want to tweak it, maybe with the wages, or to make sure the actual language reflects the things in the statement, but this looks like a pretty good offer,” said Gomez. “If we’d seen this in November or December, there might have been more negotiations.”
But the relative progress, said Gomez, might also be because Canada Post is expecting to see its official mandate changed by the government, including the elimination of door-to-door delivery and the creation of more community mailboxes. Both those suggestions were also made by Kaplan, and have been something the Crown corporation has said is necessary for its survival.
Last week, the union slammed Kaplan’s report.
Kaplan’s report said Canada Post was effectively insolvent, and suggested the use of community mailboxes, the elimination of home delivery except for parcels, and getting rid of some post office locations and replacing them with franchises.
Kaplan also suggested expanding parcel delivery to seven days a week, with the use of part-time employees.
Kaplan was also pessimistic about the prospect of a negotiated settlement between the two sides, and added that binding arbitration was also not likely to provide a lasting solution. Kaplan also noted a third possibility — of Canada Post asking the federal government to force a vote on a “final offer.”
