Three weeks after reaching an agreement in principle with Canada Post, 53,000 postal workers still don’t have a contract to vote on.
With a massive restructuring of the Crown corporation on the horizon, the long delay isn’t a shock, but it’s not typical, say labour relations experts.
“It’s very unusual for parties to announce an agreement in principle and then for there to be this long of a gap for a tentative agreement to be finalized,” said McMaster University labour studies professor Stephanie Ross. “Clearly there is great care being taken in the review of the language and perhaps discussions about what exactly everything means.”
On Nov. 21, the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) announced it had reached an agreement in principle with Canada Post, bringing an apparent end to a 20-month contract dispute that had already led to two national strikes.
Both sides said all that was left was to agree on the fine points of legal contract language, and then CUPW members would have a formal contract to vote on. (While the final language is being worked on, the union has agreed to put a pause on any strike activity, meaning all mail and flyers are getting delivered.)
Details of the agreement in principle haven’t been made public, and both sides are keeping the contents close to their vest.
Still, with a broad restructuring of the Crown corporation already getting the go-ahead from Ottawa in September, the stakes are much higher than usual at making sure the language is just right, said Ross.
“It’s likely to be a time of significant reorganization. There are all kinds of things that could really be affected by the language,” said Ross. “You can understand why they’re being so careful, given what’s at stake.”
Given the bad blood between the parties — and the restructuring — neither negotiating team is taking anything the other side says for granted right now, says York University labour studies professor Steven Tufts. Dotting every I is more difficult when the two sides are questioning the basic facts, Tufts said.
“I think it’s fair to say that given the historic militancy and … the changes Canada Post now has to make, there’s limited trust between the parties at this point,” said Tufts. “This is longer than usual. It’s clear it’s a complex agreement because it’s basically happening during a restructuring.”
The union didn’t comment specifically for this article, but in a memo posted on the CUPW website Wednesday, national president Jan Simpson said the two sides continued to meet, with the assistance of a federally-appointed mediator.
“Your negotiators have flagged several issues that needed clarification and modification in the collective agreement language that Canada Post has provided,” Simpson said. “Before we can reach tentative agreements, we’ll have to work through these issues.”
In a written statement, Canada Post said the process is still moving along.
“The parties continue their work to finalize the contractual language. As this process is ongoing, we have no further details to share at this time.”
In late September, the federal government gave the green light for a broad restructuring of Canada Post, including the elimination of home delivery, increased use of community mailboxes and elimination of some rural post offices.
Federal infrastructure minister Joël Lightbound 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 within 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 jobs losses.
Canada Post CEO Doug Ettinger reiterated before a parliamentary committee Thursday that the Crown corporation is expecting 16,000 employees to retire or take voluntary departure by 2030, with another 14,000 leaving by 2035.
While not providing any precise details of the plan, Ettinger said Canada Post — which is on course for its eighth straight year with an operating loss — would be back in the black within five years if the plan is implemented.
“It gets us to break-even by 2030,” Ettinger said.
With that kind of change, it’s no surprise both sides — especially the union — are being more diligent than usual with finalizing the contract language, said McMaster’s Ross.
“The devil is always in the details,” said Ross, “and in this case more than ever, the details really matter.”
