Canada Post strike: Here’s where workers are still seeking progress
Negotiations between Canada Post and the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) continued as the strike inches closer to the holiday season.
Higher wages, better medical benefits and changes to the postal service’s use of temporary workers are at the heart of the union’s demands at the bargaining table.
Canada Post on Sunday said it provided the union with a “comprehensive framework for reaching negotiated agreements.”
“It is our hope that these proposals will reignite discussions and, together with the support of mediators, help the parties work toward final agreements. To facilitate talks, we will not be providing further details outside the negotiations process at this time,” a Canada Post statement said on Sunday.
CUPW national president Jan Sampson said in a statement that the union was reviewing the proposal.
“CUPW and Canada Post have both provided adjustments to demands to the special mediator in hopes that he will restart the mediation process. As of now the mediator has not informed us of a restart, but the Union is ready,” a statement from Sampson wrote.
Jim Gallant, a negotiator for CUPW, told Global News that one of the key issues on the bargaining table is securing permanent jobs for Canada Post’s temporary workers.
“Over the past decades, Canada Post has moved from quite a full-time workforce to a more part-time and, even more concerning, temporary workforce. Some of these temporaries work as many as full-time hours and some more than that. The number is in the millions of hours,” he said.
Gallant said out of the 55,000 CUPW members, just over 22,000 are either temporary or part-time.
He said, “We’re not asking for an end to temporary work. There’s always going to be the odd day here and there that they
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