Canada Post strike: Union reviewing latest offer amid overtime ban – National

Canada Post says it is still waiting for a response from the postal workers’ union on its latest contract offer ahead of expected talks this weekend, as a nationwide strike looms.

The Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW), meanwhile, said Saturday it was still reviewing the Crown corporation’s latest offer, while continuing with an overtime ban that marked an initial step in job action late this week.

“CUPW negotiators are working hard to carefully evaluate the offers and prepare a response,” the union told Global News in a statement.

“The union is expecting to meet with the employer and the mediators this weekend.”

However, a Canada Post spokesperson suggested that a timetable for those weekend talks has yet to be finalized.

“We have not yet heard from CUPW about joining us at the table with the mediator this weekend,” spokesperson Lisa Liu said in an email. “We remain ready to receive a response to our global offers.”

Canada Post presented new offers to the union on Wednesday. The Crown corporation refused CUPW’s request for a two-week period — which the union referred to Saturday as a “truce” — to review the offers.

“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,” the union statement said.

“If instability hangs over these negotiations, it’s due to Canada Post’s uncompromising stance and time management.”

The two sides last met at the negotiating table Thursday with the assistance of mediators. Canada Post said the meeting lasted less than half an hour, with CUPW “raising only a small number of the many outstanding issues in an informal manner.”

The national mail carrier said earlier this week that customers “may experience delays” from the union’s overtime ban, which began at midnight Friday.

Under the overtime ban, the union says in addition to refusing to work more than a certain number of hours, letter carriers are also to return to their depot and drop off their mail, whether they have completed their routes or not. Rural and suburban mail carriers are to do the same.

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Part-time and temporary workers are allowed to extend their hours to a maximum of eight hours per day, 40 hours per week, the union said.

“It’s unclear how CUPW’s strike action may evolve,” Canada Post wrote in a news release Friday. “At this time, there are no rotating strikes or national work stoppage.”

Collective agreements between Canada Post and CUPW expired on Thursday, and the union issued a 72-hour strike notice to the Crown corporation on Monday.

At issue between the two sides are key demands on worker pay, the use of temporary workers, weekend delivery, benefits and pensions, and how Canada Post could meet a “critical financial situation” that experts have said could go “the route of Blockbuster.”

The latest offer from the national postal service includes a wage increase of six per cent in year one, three per cent in year two, two per cent in year three and two per cent in year four. This would be a compounded increase of 13.59 per cent over four years, Canada Post said in a statement on Wednesday.

The company is also offering to make changes to its part-time employment system.

— with files from Global’s Sean Previl

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