Labour deadlock: Canada Post workers’ strike enters third week

Canada’s job minister is urging Canada Post’s union to respond to the company’s latest offer as the national postal strike enters the third week mark.

The service disruption, which began on Sept. 25, is a result of a labour dispute between the national mail carrier and the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW).

Last night the union met with the minister in charge of Canada Post, Joël Lightbound, Minister of Government Transformation, Public Works and Procurement.

The offer was tabled last Friday and includes increased health benefits, expanded vacation days and a 13.59 per cent pay increase over four years. However, the corporation has removed any signing bonus, citing financial struggles.

Canada Post says its proposals are fair and that they balance its financial realities.

The union says the offer is a step back and claims the government-owned business is not serious about bargaining.

Minister of Jobs and Families Patty Hajdu said yesterday that the two parties need to find a way through the labour impasse that’s been ongoing for nearly two years, but didn’t say the government would step in to end the strike.

Ottawa intervened during the month-long strike last year that started in November.

Canada Post is in the process of coming up with a plan to implement the changes it announced in September, which includes ending some door-to-door deliveries across the nation, increasing community mail boxes and closing some rural ones. The due date is Nov. 9.

The union says the changes will reduce jobs and lead to more mail delays. 

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