Canada Post and union go back to negotiating table
By Dan Laxer
The Suburban
Late last week the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) and Canada Post returned to the bargaining table. The union says a potential arbitration process is in the works.
“Our goal has remained the same from day one,” reads a June 5 news release signed by CUPW national president Jan Simpson, “to reach new collective agreements that meet the needs of postal workers, while ensuring a strengthened public post office.”
The union had threatened to walk off the job on Friday, May 23. Instead, it instituted a ban on overtime, meaning union members have been refusing to work more than eight hours a day or more than 40 hours a week.
On Friday CUPW announced that negotiating committees were drafting Terms of Reference for a binding interest arbitration process to settle new collective agreements for both postal bargaining units.
Terms of Reference delineate the scope of negotiations to ensure that they remain fair and balanced. “We need to make sure that the criteria that will guide the arbitrator’s decision are neutral. If the Terms of Reference favour the Employer’s positions,” the union says, “it could bias the arbitrator in the Employer’s position – before we’ve even had a chance to present our case.”
Earlier in the week Patty Hajdu, Minister of Jobs and Families, called both sides back to the negotiating table, saying negotiations would be preferred to binding arbitration. Canada Post agreed, saying that arbitration “would be long and complicated.”
The crown corporation says it is seeking “a timely and fair resolution.” CUPW says it wants “a fair and balanced arbitration process.We will not agree to any criteria that clearly undermines our chances of achieving fair settlements.”
Meanwhile, the nationwide overtime ban remains in effect. n
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