The Canadian Press
OTTAWA—Canada Post and the Canadian Union of Postal Workers agreed late yesterday to extend a mediation effort aimed at resolving their labour dispute by another 24 hours.
Both Canada Post and CUPW said late Monday that both sides would continue to negotiate with the help of a special mediator into today.
Canada Post has been bargaining with its employees for more than nine months, but both sides were far apart as of late last week on key issues including pension changes for new employees and pay scales for rural postal workers.
CUPW had said it would begin job action yesterday by having its members refuse to work overtime on a rotating basis, starting in Alberta and the Northwest Territories.
That plan was halted when both sides agreed to a request for more time from a special mediator, who was brought into the dispute Friday.
The union then said job action in the form of a refusal of overtime would begin in British Columbia and in the Yukon this morning if no settlement was reached with Canada Post.
CUPW said that plan “has been put on hold for another 24 hours.”
“We are hopeful that a negotiated settlement may be achieved, but we remain prepared to defend our members and public postal services,” CUPW national president Mike Palecek said in a statement.
The latest decision to extend mediation came after E-commerce giant eBay yesterday urged Canadian businesses to write to the prime minister and demand a legislated end to the labour dispute.
The letter-writing campaign was dismissed by the opposition New Democrats as interference in the collective bargaining process.
While government officials expressed optimism that the talks would break a months-long impasse over pensions and wages, small- and medium-sized businesses have heard it before, said eBay Canada managing director Andrea Stairs.
“Negotiations are ongoing but we don’t see a solution coming down the pipe,” Stairs said in a telephone interview.
“So we really felt it was time for the prime minister to get involved.”
But NDP Canada Post critic Karine Trudel called the push for legislation “troubling,” warning it would “only serve to stack the deck against workers and prolong the dispute, not resolve it.”
The letter, e-mailed to eBay sellers and addressed to Justin Trudeau’s Langevin Block office in Ottawa, encourages the prime minister to “explore legislative solutions to the current situation” at Canada Post and warns that businesses are being harmed by uncertainty about whether parcels will be delivered.
A number of businesses catering to online customers already have offered alternative shipping options should there be a disruption in deliveries.
Indigo Books and Music Inc., announced yesterday it would fill home deliveries using carriers other than Canada Post, but didn’t say whether shipping costs would be higher.
