Postal workers balk at condition set for truce
Requiring binding arbitration if no deal reached in 30 days a ‘poison pill,’ union says
Canada Post says it will extend contract talks for 30 days and suspend its lockout threat, as long as the union will agree to binding arbitration if no deal is reached in that period.
The union wants the talks held without the “poison pill” threat of arbitration to settle the dispute.
“Our bosses at Canada Post could just sit there for 30 days, refuse to discuss our proposals, as they have been doing for months, and then wait things out in the legal system for years,” said Mike Palecek, national president of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW), in a statement.
A looming threat of a disruption to the postal service has already adversely affected mail and parcel volumes, Canada Post says.
“Our employees are coming to work to find the amount of mail and parcels they process and deliver has dropped significantly,” said a company statement issued Friday. Parcel volumes are down more than 80 per cent from major e-commerce customers and the number of letters in the system on Thursday was more than 80 per cent fewer than the same day a year ago.
The two sides have been locked in negotiations for months, holed up at an Ottawa hotel since April. But the CUPW has accused management of unfair labour practice, with the intent of provoking a disruption, arguing little negotiating has taken place.
The company served notice earlier this week that it would be ready to lock out the 50,000 unionized workers on Friday. It moved the deadline to Monday, urging the union to consider again binding arbitration.
The union fears Canada Post is preparing to slash employees’ hours, issue layoffs, cut planned vacations and withhold $3.5 million a month in union dues.
“Our members, their families and all Canadians do not deserve to have this threat of a lockout ‘looming’ over our heads from a profitable public service. Postal workers want to work and people need to know that it’s safe to use the mail system,” Palecek said.
The biggest stumbling blocks are the company’s push for pension changes and the union’s demand that pay for rural and suburban carriers, who are predominantly women, be on par with urban carriers.
The company wants to put future employees on a defined contribution pension plan, instead of the existing defined benefit pension plan, which is indexed for inflation. Two other unions and management have already switched for new hires.
“It is fundamentally unjust to have people work side by side, getting wildly different compensation,” said Palecek in an earlier interview.
Under a defined benefit plan, members are guaranteed a certain payout. If there’s a shortfall, the company must make it up, but if there’s a surplus, there can be contribution holidays. With a defined contribution plan, members have investment accounts, but the payout at retirement depends on how those investments fare.
The union wants to raise wages for its rural and suburban carriers but the company argues the jobs are set up differently, adding some suburban carriers can earn as much or more than urban carriers.