OTTAWA—The Canada Industrial Relations Board (CIRB) has informed Canada Post Corporation that a majority of employees represented by the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) have voted to reject the corporation’s final offers to both the Urban and RSMC (Rural and Suburban Mail Carriers) bargaining units. This means negotiations between the parties remain unresolved.
“While we are disappointed in the results, we want to thank employees for participating in the process. We would also like to thank the CIRB for administering the vote,” Canada Post said in a release. “This result does not lessen the urgent need to modernize and protect this vital national service. However, it does mean the uncertainty that has been significantly impacting our business and the many Canadians and Canadian businesses who depend on Canada Post, will continue. We are evaluating our next steps.”
Two-thirds of the Urban and RSMC bargaining units voted against what Canada Post has called its final offer.
The offer included wage hikes of about 13 percent over four years, but it also would have added part-time workers that Canada Post has said are necessary to keep the postal service afloat.
Voting took place July 21-August 1.
Jan Simpson, CUPW’s national president, had urged unionized workers to turn down the offer in order to protect the integrity of the bargaining process, and she criticized federal Jobs Minister Patty Hajdu for having asked the CIRB to step in and put Canada Post’s latest offer to a vote.
“By saying yes, we tell them that it’s acceptable to ignore free and fair collective bargaining, dismiss our union’s democratic processes and structures, and send a message to governments that its okay to trample over your rights as a worker,” she had said in a statement on July 17.
Dan Kelly, president of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, said in a statement August 1 that the results add, “more uncertainty at a time when small businesses are already struggling to plan ahead.” He called on the federal government to extend the current collective bargaining agreement for the foreseeable future and added that the “government also needs to immediately give Canada Post the full authority to make major reforms needed to ensure it is financially sustainable.”
