A mail-carrier hopes his fellow workers say ‘no’ to Canada Post, and the government.
The Crown corporation has given 53,000 CUPW members until Friday to accept their latest collective bargaining offer, after the government forced a vote due to an impasse.
The two sides have been negotiating on-and-off since the fall of 2023, there was a weeks-long strike that ended in December of last year.
Jeff Cook works in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, and is part of the Rural and Suburban Mail Carriers’ negotiating team in Ottawa.
He says a ‘no’ vote would send a resounding message.
“Forcing things on employees is not the way that collective bargaining is supposed to go. We want a negotiated settlement, and this isn’t the way to get it. We want Canada Post to come back to the table, and we’ll talk,” said Cook.
Canada Post says the offer reflects the company’s current realities and protects items that are important to employees.
They’ll be voting on wage increases, a signing bonus, job security, new part-time positions and phased changes to the delivery model.
Cook says Canada Post just wants to do it their way with more part-time workers.
“We’ve given them methods so they can do these things they want to do with full-time employees, and they flat out refuse. They want to do it their way, and their way hasn’t really worked. Now they want to fix it on the backs of their workers.”
He says if Canada Post is cutting full-time jobs, it will hurt all communities.
Cook adds that if the government gets away with this interference and taking their right to strike away, it will change the face of collective bargaining for all unions.
Employees can vote privately online or by phone, results are expected late Friday.