The union representing about 55,000 Canada Post employees said the latest offers from the postal service “fall short” with hours to go until a looming strike deadline.
In a bulletin posted late Wednesday, the Canadian Union of Postal Workers said it is still reviewing proposals tabled by the Crown corporation earlier in the day.
But it identified a number of areas where the offers disappoint, namely on wages and cost-of-living adjustments.
Canada Post’s offers amount to a little more than 13 per cent in wage increases over four years, where the union was looking for closer to 19 per cent to catch up after years of rampant inflation.
The union also raised concerns about Canada Post’s pitch to include more part-time staff and introduce “dynamic routing” — a model that could see mail delivery routes change on a daily basis to adjust to varying conditions — without established rules governing the system.
CUPW also argued that the six extra personal days on offer are “window dressing” and already allotted in the Canada Labour Code.
The union also took issue with a pitch to remove workers’ “five-minute wash-up time.”
Without an agreement in place by the end of Thursday, CUPW members are set to go on strike shortly after midnight.
Canada Post rejected CUPW’s call for a two-week “truce” that would have given the union time to review the new offers in detail.
“After two years of discussions, a lengthy strike and a five month pause for the Industrial Inquiry Commission, our employees, customers and Canadians are looking for the certainty that only agreements can provide. Further delay is in no one’s interest,” Canada Post spokesperson Lisa Liu said in a statement Wednesday.
If postal workers do walk off the job, it would be their second strike in less than six months.
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