{"id":184318,"date":"2018-10-05T06:49:24","date_gmt":"2018-10-05T10:49:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=184318"},"modified":"2018-10-05T06:49:24","modified_gmt":"2018-10-05T10:49:24","slug":"still-long-way-go-canada-post-contract-dispute-union-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2018\/10\/05\/still-long-way-go-canada-post-contract-dispute-union-says\/","title":{"rendered":"Still ‘a long way to go’ in Canada Post contract dispute, union says"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
\u201cCanada Post still hasn’t addressed any of our major issues.\u201d (File Photo: By Raysonho\/Wikimedia <\/a>commons, CC0<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

OTTAWA \u2014 The union representing 50,000 employees at\u00a0Canada\u00a0Post panned the latest contract offers from the corporation Thursday, calling them \u201cdisappointing\u201d and keeping alive the threat of a work stoppage as the busy holiday online shopping season approaches.<\/p>\n

Two separate offers for rural and urban carriers included \u201cvery small movements\u201d toward resolving some key issues, said the Canadian Union of Postal Workers.<\/p>\n

On a proposal directed at rural carriers, the union said, \u201cWe have a long way to go to achieve a negotiated collective agreement.\u201d<\/p>\n

The possibility of a work stoppage has hovered over\u00a0Canada\u00a0Post since Sept. 26 after postal workers voted overwhelmingly in late summer in support of a potential walkout to back their contract demands.<\/p>\n

But that initial deadline passed without any job action being launched, with CUPW saying it would stay at the bargaining table so long as there was progress in the talks.<\/p>\n

That position had not changed Thursday, said CUPW national president Mike Palecek.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose are discussions that we’re having daily, based on developments,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Job action could include a full or partial walkout, or a lockout, after a 72-hour notice period.<\/p>\n

The threat of a work stoppage over the holidays has forced companies that rely on\u00a0Canada\u00a0Post for parcel deliveries to make alternative plans to ensure their customers receive orders. However, it may be difficult to fill all of the service gaps in the event of a shutdown.<\/p>\n

Canada\u00a0Post is the biggest parcel shipping company in the country, having delivered about one million parcels per day during the holiday season last year \u2014 an increase of 20 per cent over the same period in 2016.<\/p>\n

Utilities have also been urging their clients to register for online billing, reminding them that invoices must still be paid regardless of whether they are mailed out.<\/p>\n

Canada\u00a0Post said its global offers to rural and urban carriers include improvements to pay, benefits and job security.<\/p>\n

But the job security proposals are limited, particularly for rural and suburban carriers, CUPW said in a statement on its website.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor those eligible to job security,\u00a0Canada\u00a0Post would be allowed to assign you or not to a vacant position within a 75 km radius from your installation,\u201d the union said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a very complex proposal and a substantial amount of clarification is required to fully understand its impact.\u201d<\/p>\n

Canada\u00a0Post also rejected demands that those same carriers get paid an hourly rate \u2014 and for all hours worked \u2014 and that the corporation guarantee minimum hours, said CUPW.<\/p>\n

For both rural and urban carriers, the post office offered wage increases of 1.5 per cent annually under a four-year contract \u2014 virtually unchanged from proposals tabled Sept. 7. The union is seeking a 3.5 per cent hike in pay.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe offers are disappointing,\u201d said Palecek.<\/p>\n

\u201cCanada\u00a0Post still hasn’t addressed any of our major issues.\u201d<\/p>\n

CUPW has been pushing\u00a0Canada\u00a0Post to offer banking services in communities underserved by the big financial institutions.<\/p>\n

The Crown agency’s latest offer proposes \u201ca selected set of new financial services,\u201d a move Palecek described as encouraging.<\/p>\n

But he noted that no details about what those services might involve or when they could be launched have been forthcoming.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

OTTAWA \u2014 The union representing 50,000 employees at\u00a0Canada\u00a0Post panned the latest contract offers from the corporation Thursday, calling them \u201cdisappointing\u201d …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":184319,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-184318","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news-ca","category-news","mauthors-terry-pedwell","mauthors-the-canadian-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184318","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=184318"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184318\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/184319"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=184318"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=184318"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=184318"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}