Tens of thousands of Canada Post workers are continuing to refuse overtime shifts as the two sides continue their labour stalemate.
The Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) says it expects to meet with the Crown corporation and mediators at some point this weekend but Canada Post says it has “not yet heard” from the union about resuming negotiations.
Canada Post says it has yet to receive a response from the union about its last proposal, while rejecting the union’s offer a two-week truce to go over the proposal in detail.
“Instead, CUPW was given just a day to rush through the content of the offers, wholly inadequate to be able to carefully consider the detailed, legal wording of the 700-page offers. If instability hangs over these negotiations, it’s due to Canada Post’s uncompromising stance and time management,” the union said in a statement on Saturday. “CUPW negotiators are working hard to carefully evaluate the offers and prepare a response.”
The Canada Post offers amount to a little more than 13 per cent in wage increases over four years, where the union was looking for closer to 19 per cent to catch up after years of rampant inflation.
The union has also raised concerns about Canada Post’s pitch to include more part-time staff and introduce “dynamic routing” – a model that could see mail delivery routes change on a daily basis to adjust to varying conditions, without established rules governing the system.
CUPW also argued that the six extra personal days in the offer are “window dressing” and are already allotted in the Canada Labour Code.
The union says it is continuing with its nationwide overtime ban, calling on workers to refuse to work no more than eight hours a day or no more than 40 hours a week.
