Canada Post has issued a 72-hour notice to the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW), raising the possibility of a work stoppage as early as Friday.
“On July 4, 2016, Canada Post informed CUPW that the offers the Corporation presented on June 25, 2016 are considered final, as they represent a fair and reasonable framework for settlements,” Canada Post said in a statement early Tuesday.
The CUPW said the notice is an effort to “drive them out onto the streets without pay.”
“We knew this was their game all along,” CUPW President Mike Palecek said in a statement. “They are sabotaging the public review of the post office. They refused to negotiate fairly with us and now they’re locking the doors and will try to starve us into submission.”
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Canada Post said the notice means as of Friday, the terms and conditions of the current collective agreements will no longer apply although “employees will continue to receive their regular pay.”
Canada Post said the 72-hour notice does not necessarily mean it will shut down on Friday.
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Instead, it said the move “allows the Corporation to take measures that are necessary to respond to the changing business reality.”
The Canada Revenue Agency has deemed Old Age Security, Canada Pension Plan, Working Income Tax Benefit and the Canada Child Benefit cheques “essential” – even during a labour disruption.
On Monday, Canada Post said it was “extremely disappointed” in the response from the CUPW at the bargaining table in recent days.
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“Late Friday evening, CUPW tabled offers that would add at least $1 billion in new costs over the term of a new collective agreement while rejecting the Corporation’s approach to address the long-term issues with the employee pension plan,” said a statement released Monday.
Canada Post also accused the union of demanding the reversal of several changes that had already been agreed to in the last round of negotiations in 2012.
The union said Tuesday the issue is pay equity for rural carriers, 70 per cent of whom are women and earn 28 per cent less than their urban, mostly male, counterparts.
The Crown corporation said Monday that CUPW’s demands are “not affordable” and would add $1 billion in costs over the life of a new contract. The union accused Canada Post of preparing to lock workers out, and creating uncertainty by warning the public to avoid the post office.
“They have been lying to the public,” Palecek said at a Tuesday morning news conference in Ottawa.
“It’s clear that they’re trying to bully us into just accepting that our future generations of co-workers would not have the same working conditions, would not have a secure retirement, not have a secure pension plan. They want us to just accept that women workers get paid less and they refused to negotiate anything else.”
Palecek emphasized that the CUPW intends to remain at the bargaining table. “Our goal is to get a negotiated collective agreement without a labour dispute. That’s been our goal from the outset,” he said. “To that end, we are not issuing strike notice. We’re remaining at the table. We’ll be there seven days a week to try and hammer out a deal.”
– With files from Monique Muise and The Canadian Press