Canada Post on Thursday said it will present a new contract offer to unionized mail carriers in an effort to break a negotiating stalemate that has created uncertainty for users and led to falling mail and parcel volumes.
The postal operator said it has asked CUPW to drop its limited strike action against delivering marketing mail, which took effect on Friday, since Canada Post is willing to return to the bargaining table. Previously, mail carriers had refused to work overtime in an effort to pressure Canada Post to reach a deal.
The proposal is a response to an Aug. 20 offer from the Canadian Union of Postal Workers, which Canada Post rejected as even more restrictive and costly than demands in earlier rounds of negotiations. The parties are scheduled to return to the bargaining table next week. Canada Post said it is finalizing the detailed legal language before sharing its offer with the union.
Canada Post said CUPW has not submitted more “workable solutions that reflect the company’s current realities,” but hopes its new offer allows the sides to find common ground on issues such as weekend delivery.
Ending the embargo on marketing mail would provide relief for many customers, such as community newspapers, small businesses and charities that spent money to print flyers with the expectation that Canada Post would deliver them, the company said. Instead, marketing mail has been stuck in Canada Post facilities. Canada Post is not accepting new residential flyers until it is certain they can be delivered.
Canada Post has lost $3 billion since 2018 and says it needs to modernize its delivery model as letter mail declines in the Internet age and shippers gravitate to alternative parcel carriers. It wants to implement part-time flex staffing, weekend delivery, the ability to level loads between carriers as needed and dynamic routing, rather than sticking to pre-determined assignments.
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