Canada Post sending new offers to union with aim to move talks forward

Canada Post says it will be sending new offers to the Canadian Union of Postal Workers in an effort to move negotiations forward.

The Crown corporation says the new terms will allow the two sides to return to the bargaining table next week, with work already under way to make that happen.

In early August, the union representing 55,000 postal workers voted down what Canada Post said was its final offer, and CUPW responded with its own proposal that the postal service said was a step backwards.

“CUPW’s offers from August 20 added significant new costs and restrictions at a challenging time for the Corporation. In response, Canada Post asked CUPW to come back to the table with workable solutions that reflect the company’s current realities and provide the basis for meaningful discussions,” the Crown corporation said in a release on Thursday.

Canada Post said since that hasn’t happened, it has decided to present new global offers with the hopes that the two sides can find common ground on important issues like weekend delivery.

The postal service says it is also asking the union to lift a ban on delivering flyers that went into place on Monday.

“With a planned return to the table, we have asked CUPW to amend its strike action and deliver the unaddressed flyers (Neighbourhood Mail) that are currently trapped in our network. The union announced its flyer ban last Friday, saying it was forced to take this action to get the parties back to the table, which is now occurring,” Canada Post said.

The two sides have been in contract talks for almost two years over issues like wages and part-time workers at a time that the postal service keeps incurring significant financial losses.