Canada Post says no ‘major breakthrough’ in talks as strike enters 2nd week

Canada Post said Saturday there’s been nary “major breakthrough” successful talks with the postal workers’ national arsenic the ongoing strike entered its 2nd week and the 2 sides stay acold isolated astatine the negotiating table.

Canada Post and the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) kept negotiating implicit the weekend, on with the enactment of a peculiar mediator.

Jon Hamilton, Canada Post’s vice-president of strategical communications, told Global News the struggling institution wants to scope a just woody with the national that addresses their needs, but said afloat gathering each the CUPW’s demands could bounds its quality to turn its business.

“Obviously, we privation to proceed to guarantee that we person bully paying jobs for our people, but there’s lone truthful acold we tin go,” Hamilton said.

The Crown corp said Friday it mislaid $315 cardinal earlier taxation successful the 3rd quarter, larger than its $290-million nonaccomplishment a twelvemonth earlier.

The fiscal results enactment Canada Post connected way for “another important loss” successful 2024, which would people the seventh twelvemonth successful a enactment successful the red.

CUPW nationalist president Jan Simpson told Global News that though “morale is up” among picketing postal workers, immoderate layoffs and payment cancellations person begun arsenic the institution tries to prevention its bottommost line.

“You can’t expect to negociate a declaration and prevention your institution connected the backs of workers,” she said successful an interview.

“We went to the bargaining array implicit a twelvemonth agone with them. … This could person been done a agelong clip ago.”

Canada Post said Saturday it has seen a shortage of much than 8 cardinal parcels amid the ongoing onslaught compared with the aforesaid play successful 2023.

More than 55,000 workers crossed the state walked disconnected the occupation connected Nov. 15. The main sticking points proceed to beryllium wages and declaration enactment arsenic good arsenic occupation security, benefits and moving conditions.

Canada Post says it has offered wage increases totalling 11.5 per cent implicit 4 years and further paid leave, portion protecting the defined payment pension and occupation information provisions. But the national has called for a cumulative wage hike of 24 per cent implicit 4 years, arguing ostentation has enactment workers down the outgo of living.

It besides wants full-time employees to present bundle shipments connected weekends, portion Canada Post hopes to prosecute part-time declaration workers. CUPW claims the part-time workers would commencement little connected the wage and payment scale.

“You don’t privation to make a gigified workplace wrong a Crown corporation,” Simpson said.

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“You should beryllium starring by example. It’s not a contention to the bottom. You should beryllium lifting radical up.”

Hamilton said Canada Post has identified play parcel transportation arsenic a maturation accidental for the business, but that “adding much fixed costs” done further full-time workers “is lone going to enactment america retired of the competitory crippled and mean that we’re going to shrink further.”

Friday’s net study said the fig of packages delivered by Canada Post dropped by six cardinal oregon astir 10 per cent year-over-year. Letter message volumes besides eroded further, though gross nudged up owed to a hike successful stamp prices, it said.

Competing shipping companies similar Purolator and FedEx, which already predominate play deliveries, person seen their concern spell up during the strike.

Canada Post claims labour costs went up by $242 cardinal successful 2023 implicit 2022, and accounts for 70 per cent of its revenue. CUPW has accused the institution of prioritizing enforcement bonuses implicit workers.

Both sides accidental they privation to scope a woody astatine the negotiating array earlier the national authorities intervenes successful immoderate way. Ottawa has truthful acold rebuffed increasing calls to measurement in.

“We’re inactive committed to negotiating a deal,” Hamilton said. “We person made immoderate progress. There has not yet been a large breakthrough, though, and question has been slow.

“Obviously, we privation to spot that velocity up due to the fact that … this is simply a immense interaction connected Canada Post. But much importantly, there’s a immense interaction connected Canadians, connected tiny businesses, connected charities and truthful galore others successful distant bluish communities that person not had the postal work and either gone to the contention oregon been near down for the past 9 days.”

—with files from the Canadian Press