Mail disruptions loom as Canada Post rejects CUPW proposal
By Nelson Daily Staff
There appears to be no turning back on a potential disruption to mail delivery after Canada Post CEO Deepak Chopra officially rejected a letter from postal workers asking him to extend the July 2 deadline for a lockout by a period of two weeks.
Mike Palecek, national president of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers, says in a media release this could mean Canada Post is indeed preparing to lock out its workforce in the middle of a public postal review, spoiling the process.
“We only got their first real ‘offer’ last Saturday and it still contained a raft of cuts to our working standards that they know we could never accept,” said Palecek.
There are now just two days left for the union and Canada Post to come to an agreement before a work stoppage could begin disrupting mail service across Canada.
Nelson Canada Post workers expect CUPW to be locked out over the weekend.
“Canada Post managers started this countdown to a labour dispute by filing for conciliation shockingly early on in the negotiations process,” said Palecek.
“They don’t really want to give us a chance to settle a deal. They want us out and they want the public to blame the postal workers for management’s decisions.”
In a letter handed out to postal workers late last night, one of Chopra’s human resources executives claims that agreeing to the union’s request to extend talks would only delay matters and produce further “uncertainty” for its customers.
“So they’re going to kill the mail and remove all uncertainty, I guess” said Palecek.
CUPW said the profitable Crown Corporation, which netted almost $100 million last year and is in its 20th year of profits, is trying to cut back workers’ pensions and remove job security protections, among other cuts.
Widespread strike action or lock-outs of the 50,000 employees represented by CUPW would shut down nearly all postal service, with the exception of welfare and pension cheques.
If there is a strike or lockout, Ottawa and the provincial governments have agreement in place to ensure the delivery of federal socioeconomic cheques: welfare cheques and pension cheques said a Canada Post spokesperson.
Online retailers have also been putting contingency plans in place, as Canada Post ships two of every three parcels that Canadians order online.
For Canada Post negotiation updates log onto the website.
