Strike at Canada Post: negotiations are temporarily suspended

The special federal mediator has decided to temporarily suspend mediation between Canada Post and CUPW because the “parties remain too far apart on crucial issues,” according to federal Labor Minister Steven MacKinnon.

After several days of intensive negotiations, he believes that the parties remain too far apart on crucial issues for mediation to be fruitful at this time.we can read in a publication on X by Steven MacKinnon.

A few hours later, after leaving the Liberal Party of Canada caucus, the Minister of Labor added that he was extremely frustrated with the lack of progress at the table negotiations. Both parties had access to the best mediation services availablehe stressed.

Steven MacKinnon said he asked both parties to meet with him in his office on Wednesday. He assured that he would then express his frustrations to them. Both parties will have to review their positions in light of the mediator’s withdrawal.he said at a press briefing.

The Minister of Labor says he hopes that this ruling will serve as a shock treatment to negotiations, even if he admits that the labor dispute could be long.

Canada Post must transform its business model, says the minister

Despite the approach of the holidays, Steven MacKinnon assured that the Trudeau government does not plan to intervene in this conflict as it did in particular for the labor conflict in the ports of Montreal, Quebec and British Columbia.

All conflicts are different, the conditions are different, the issues are different […] but here the issues are fundamentalhe affirmed, emphasizing that they affect in particular the business model, the delivery model from Canada Post.

It’s as if both parties [l’employeur et le syndicat] lived in a world where the Canada Post business model has not evolved. However, it is obvious and it is obvious that Canada Post must carry out a transformation.

According to him, Canada Post is built to deliver letters. However, Canadians no longer receive or send many letters. The two parties must therefore find an agreement allowing Canada Post to move from a company that delivers letters to a company which, yes, delivers letters reliably, but also delivers packages profitably.

Far from the end of the strike

The approximately 55,000 postal workers of the state company have been on strike since November 15. Letters and packages are not processed, with the exception of government benefits.

The minister had already admitted at the start of the week that negotiations between Canada Post and the STTP were very difficult and that he did not foresee a rapid end to the strike.

We are in a bit of a speech of the deaf at the momentfor his part admitted the national director of STTPYannick Scott, in an interview on the Phare Ouest show on ICI Première.

According to him this is the whole work which currently poses a problem in negotiations between the union and the employer.

I think it may be time to take a step back, each of us, and look at how we want to reach a negotiated agreement between now and the holiday season.he said.

In addition to better salaries, postal workers are demanding better work-family balance as well as improved health and safety conditions.

Canada Post, for its part, claims that its offer to union members is competitive (11.5% salary increase over four years), taking into account the revenue losses it has had to deal with since 2018.

The parties have been trying to reach an agreement for almost a year.