Canada Post must table new offers quickly amid strike, minister urges

On Monday, Jobs Minister Patty Hajdu urged Canada Post to quickly present a new offer to the striking postal workers’ union. Thursday, the Canadian Union of Postal Workers took to the picket lines in response to Ottawa’s announcement of significant operations changes for the Crown corporation to address the corporation’s difficult financial situation. Those changes include ending daily mail delivery, closing some rural post offices and moving almost all Canadian households to community mailboxes — moves the union calls a direct attack on workers.
Hajdu did not rule out federal intervention to put an end to the most recent strike in an interview with The Canadian Press on Monday. However, she also stated that the union must take any proposal seriously and that Canada Post must quickly present a new offer. She stated, “After nearly two years of bargaining, the parties must come together to chart a new course for the struggling postal service.” This union and corporation have to figure out the future of their workforce together and how they’re going to actually together, transform Canada Post to be a viable, sustainable Crown corporation,” Hajdu said.“ There is no time to be wasted here by either the corporation, or the union, once that offer is tabled.”
After the federal government’s announcement, Canada Post is revising a new offer it was planning to present on Friday. The company said there was no new statement to share on Monday.Canada Post spokesman Jon Hamilton said last week there’s still a “significant gap” between Canada Post and the union. He said the new offers will reflect the federal government’s changes and a broad directive to get the postal service on solid footing and reduce the burden on taxpayers.Canada Post’s financial situation is dire and the company claims it was losing upwards of $10 million per day over the summer as labour uncertainty stretched on. The postal service has relied on federal support to keep the lights on in recent years.
An industrial inquiry commission report earlier this year found the Crown corporation was effectively insolvent and suggested a host of measures to keep it afloat — suggestions the federal government adopted wholesale in its announcement last week.
Jim Gallant, a CUPW negotiator, stated last week that the union recognizes Canada Post’s financial difficulties, but the federal government’s proposed solutions are “extreme.”