Postal Service on countdown towards possible job action next week

CUPW has served strike notice on Canada Post, with the potential for
the first in a number of rotating strikes coming up as early as Monday

Negotiations between Canada Post and their union CUPW seem to have reached the boiling point, with the union issuing strike notice today; advising that if the two sides do not reach an agreement by this weekend, Postal Service will be disrupted as of Monday.

“Our members gave us a clear mandate to take job action if Canada Post refused to address our major issues – health and safety, gender equality and preserving full-time, middle class jobs,”  ... “Our goal is still negotiated settlements with no postal disruption. This week is Canada Post’s chance to make that happen.” -- Mike Palecek, CUPW National President.

It's anticipated that if any job action is to take place on Monday, that it will be in the form of rotating strikes, with no locations disclosed as to which potential cities may see picket lines next week.

The union has made note of deteriorating working conditions across the country, with the key demands in recent talks those of job security, an end to forced overtime and overburdening, better health and safety measures, service expansion and equality for Rural and Suburban mail carriers.

The strike notice announcement can be reviewed here.

So far, Canada Post has not offered up any indication as to their plans or the state of negotiations with CUPW in this latest round of talks, their most recent statement noted that negotiations had been continuing with the assistance of a mediator.

The Postal talks have been going on for much of the summer and into the fall, the contract between the union and Canada Post expire in December of 2017.

We last reviewed the path of the negotiations with this post back in September.

For more notes of interest on the local labour scene see our archive page here.