Canada Post sending new offers to union with aim of moving talks forward

Canada Post says it will be sending new offers to the Canadian Union of Postal Workers in an effort to move negotiations forward.

The Crown corporation said the new terms will allow the two sides to return to the bargaining table next week, with work already underway to make that happen.

The move comes after the union representing 55,000 postal workers imposed a ban on flyer deliveries that started Monday, as the union also urged Canada Post back to negotiations.

In early August, union members voted down what Canada Post said was its final offer. The union put forward its latest counter-proposal on Aug. 20, which Canada Post said adds significant new costs and restrictions at a challenging time for the postal service.

Canada Post said it asked the union to come back with a more workable solution, but since that hasn't happened, it decided to present new global offers with the hopes that the two sides can find common ground on important issues like weekend delivery.

Pressure is mounting to reach a deal as the crucial holiday season approaches. 

A strike and lockout lasted more than a month in November and December last year, ending only after then-labour minister Steven MacKinnon declared an impasse in the talks and asked the Canada Industrial Relations Board to order an end to the work stoppage.

Jan Simpson, president of CUPW, said last Friday that the union shifted from an overtime ban to the flyer ban to address Canada Post's objections to how it was affecting operations. 

She said the goal is to get a deal in place before Christmas, but that if Canada Post "continues to stall, postal workers will have no choice but to consider stronger actions to move negotiations ahead."

Canada Post said that it has asked the union to deliver the flyers that are currently trapped in its network ahead of the restart of talks. 

It said the ban on flyer deliveries is affecting many customers, including community newspapers, small businesses and charities.

The two sides have been in contract talks for almost two years over issues like wages and part-time workers at a time that the postal service keeps incurring significant financial losses. 

Picture Courtesy: THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld