Union is prepared to start work action
If settlement not reached, protests will begin in Alberta and N.W.T.
Negotiations between Canada Post and the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) continued Sunday afternoon in a long-running contractual dispute.
The two sides have been meeting with mediators since Friday and worked all day Saturday, said Canada Post spokesperson Jon Hamilton.
However, on Thursday, CUPW issued a 72-hour strike notice, which comes into effect Sunday at midnight if a deal is not reached.
“That’s going to create great uncertainty with our customers regardless of what they say,” Hamilton said. “If nothing changes as of Monday morning, the union going forward can take any legal strike action or disruptive action they wish without any notice.”
In a statement, CUPW said strike actions would rotate through the provinces and territories on a day-by-day basis. The protests would include refusing to work overtime, even when prompted by Canada Post management. If a settlement is not reached, the first of the actions will begin Monday in the Northwest Territories and Alberta.
In the same statement, CUPW said Canada Post relies too much on overtime, demanding the postal service hire more staff as opposed to adding hours to the existing workforce. They also said Canada Post would “cut off maternity and adoption leave as well as insurance and other benefits, and cancel the workers’ vacations.”
Hamilton said Canada Post has been maintaining those benefits despite the fact the collective agreement that promised them expired at the beginning of the year. “We maintained, but they always knew that if they were to file a strike notice, the collective agreements would expire and that’s what’s happened,” he said.
“This was communicated to the union months in advance. If they were to file 72-hour notice, we would be changing the terms and conditions,” Hamilton said. He said in the case of vacation, for example, workers would not lose their vacation time if they chose to put it off. Alternatively, they could continue to take their vacation, only unpaid.
Hamilton would not comment on the state of the negotiations, but said Canada Post is “committed to that process and working through that.”