It’s finally official — more than 53,000 postal workers have a tentative contract agreement to vote on.
While Canada Post and the Canadian Union of Postal Workers announced an “agreement in principle” in late November, then a tentative contract agreement shortly before Christmas, the two sides have been hammering out a few final details over the last month.
They finally wrapped up the last remaining point Wednesday. Sources say the final point was related to disability benefits.
“Today, negotiators for the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) and Canada Post finalized outstanding contractual language in the tentative agreements. CUPW’s National Executive Board will soon set dates for ratification votes and recommends that members vote yes,” CUPW said early Wednesday evening.
It wasn’t immediately clear when voting will take place, or how long it will take.
In late September, the federal government gave the green light for a broad restructuring of Canada Post, including elimination of home delivery, increased use of community mailboxes and shuttering of some rural post offices.
Joël Lightbound, federal Minister of Government Transformation, Public Services and Procurement, said the restructuring was necessary to fight an “existential crisis” faced by the financially-struggling Crown corporation.
Many of the changes approved by the minister were recommended in a May report by the Industrial Inquiry Commission led by veteran mediator William Kaplan.
Within hours of Lightbound’s September announcement, CUPW launched its second national strike in a year. That strike was subsequently downgraded to a series of rotating regional strikes.
On Nov. 7, the Crown corporation gave the federal government its implementation plan for the restructuring, but said it wouldn’t make details public until the plan is finalized and approved.
The union has said the restructuring would lead to service cutbacks and job losses.
Canada Post CEO Doug Ettinger reiterated before a parliamentary committee in December that the Crown corporation is expecting 16,000 employees to retire or take voluntary departure by 2030, with another 14,000 leaving by 2035.
