CUPW negotiations: Parties continue to negotiate as cooling-off period ends
November 3, 2024, 04:08 pm
100 comments
As negotiations continue between Canada Post and the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW), the 21-day cooling-off period ended November 2. This means either party could initiate a labour disruption after providing a minimum notice of 72 hours.
The parties remain at the table and have agreed not to provide a 72-hour notice as long as discussions are productive. Our goal throughout these negotiations with CUPW has always been to reach negotiated agreements, without any labour disruption.
Operations continue as usual
Our regular business operations continue. Going forward, it would be at least three days (minimum 72 hours) after a notice is received before any labour disruption could begin.
We remain committed to providing employees and customers with updates as quickly as possible as negotiations evolve.
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Bundle up, it will be cold on the line come Tuesday.
Anyone hoping that they were close on wages is way off unfortunately. The counter proposal today is a ridiculous document to look at the broad strokes. Good luck to you all. Hopefully you planned for $200 a week and 4 hours walking around with a sandwich board.
$224 a week
Not doing it.
I get paid 10x more elsewhere.
7 day operation, get rid of colours and work any and all mail in the building. Keep the 13 personal days. Raise increase 15-17%. I think our union needs to stop protecting these lazy workers as well, that goes for Inside and outside workers.
I agree 💯% and I’m speaking from experience, did 30+years at CPC both inside and outside
Just let them have their demand for week delivery.
There is too much competition out there for parcels from other courier services.
We need to show we are better and more efficient compared to the competition.
Plus, we can bank 5 personal days every year. Some people don’t always use all their personal days. Hence, we can save them when they need them.
You’re almost there…these two issues are not enough to strike. They will not touch weekday work. Just there won’t be the usual overtime for weekend work. I for one would be happy to know that I don’t need to come in on a Sunday to make my Monday manageable. Get the deal done by Friday so we can all have decent long weekend and a calmer holiday season without all the uncertainty….No change to pensions of course, that IS worth striking for.
Don’t allow them to touch the pension. Everything else is fine. Keep the 13 days which would now be protected, get about 15-18% raise over four years. Sign it. The unions crying about weekday routes is nonsense.
I totally agree with the above two posts. If the petsonal/ sick days ate the sticking point, can we assume the two sides are now close in wages? Either way trying to squeeze four more personal days out of the company is not enough to go on strike or risk a lock-out over. Both sides need to grow up and get this deal done. For the sake of the employees and the customers. Evetyone will lose in a strike/lock-out!
There are some obvious win/win possibilities here with many of these issues.
At this point it is reasonable to question the motives of the negotiators on both sides in not even coming close to an agreement.
I would like to know if the AdMail volume control and proper oversight of all the work volumes are on the table. The Union can try and get us whatever benefits or wage increases they want but does this supersede the ability to delivery the mail and parcels without being overwhelmed?
Heads should roll in Ottawa. The whole head office of Canada Post should be disassembled. Canada Head office has failed this company and all that work for it.
Anyone know why there has been such an increase in management? There has been an increase in superintendents and supervisors. These high paying positions are clearly not needed if the company is in such distress.
You’re right about that! I said that back in 2015 when the Liberals took office. The CEO of Canada Post Deepak Chopra was given a 5 year contract and $500Gs per year by Stephen Harper. Back then Chopra set out to get rid of Door to Door delivery. Justin Trudeau asked Chopra to resign as soon as he took office but the Man didn’t step down until March 31, 2018. So I wonder about the real power of Government here. What exactly is the Mandate of the Canada Post Board of Directors and how do these people get these positions? Given the fact that CPC has lost 3 billion dollars in 6 years, you would think that there should have been some drastic cuts to the Employee Base. This would have happened in any other Public or Private Corporation.
Canada Post is still hiring like crazy!
As a trainer I have trained new hires for the past 3 weeks, with more to come next week ( if there is no stoppage)
This tells me that even when the new deal is signed, there could be potential layoffs in the horizon
My instinct tells me that any employee with less than 7-10 years of service could be in potential jeopardy- CPC could get rid of those folks. replace them with new hires that dont have to be paid if not working/ have no paid time off/ no benefits/ have a reduced hourly rate and no pension obligations
CPC, in my opinion, wants a true changing of the guard- eliminate the long term employees with lots of holidays/ benefits. etc. and replace them with contract employees
One 15 yr mans opinion
Makes sense. Just curious why you think those of us with more than 10 years are safe and the newer people aren’t?
It’s in the collective agreement book…I believe 5 yrs though. If you have less than that you could be layed off
Hence why we have a union duh. You can’t lay off people and hire new ones lol.
How would they get rid of the 7-10 years of service people? They can’t just let them go without a reason. They still have to go by the labour laws of Canada.
They have a budget for training and they have to spend it otherwise they’re not gonna have it next year. Same number they are hiring the same number are quitting. I am wondering why? Can anyone from management answer that?
Really ? They have been treating senior some senior employees like trash for a while. If you were senior and spoke up a target. The ones that can retire like myself can help junior employees by showing them managements tactics and make them aware. I due believe they need to get rid of some that are working with almost 50 yrs service.
Weekend work let some of senior union except management deliver Sat and Sun as part of helping CPC.
CPC senior management person jumps to run airport.
Your comment actually makes no sense at all. Canada Post can’t lay-off permanent employees. They can make conditions so frustrating that people quit or retire early, but that’s another matter Lol. Misinformation doesn’t help anyone.
It is in our union book that any employee under 5 yrs service can be let go. Example would be after a restructure.
100% agree and know for a fact this.
“On Saturday, November 2, we focused on the short-term disability plan. Unfortunately, the Employer demonstrated little willingness to consider our demand to include 10 Medical Days and 7 Personal Days as part of our collective agreements. Canada Post refuses to move from its position of including 13 Personal Days, which does not represent an improvement from what we currently have..””.
this statement from the union is false and makes me very angry. The 13 days that they were “mandated” to give us is an upgrade (albeit they were forced into it) but nonetheless it is an upgrade and CP is offering to protect them in the contract at 13 personal days. We could lose them at any time and mark my words we will when we get a PC govt. in previous negotiations we asked for 10, never ever gained any and were always stuck at 7 for 12+ years and made do, then we get the “6” govt Trudeau days as people call them for 13 total and all of a sudden that’s not good enough (3 over the 10 we initially asked for) now we want want 17!! Where on earth does a company give out that many days…No wonder people think we are greedy good for nothing!
I would rather the union have cpc eliminate the 5 personal days you have to cough up once approved for an stdp claim. This should have been eliminated years ago.
I really hope that No Strike happens. This will make no sense to gain what little we might get out of the Deal in the end. Can we get some Professional People at the Table? Get someone that knows how to Make Money in the shipping business, and help the Corporation and the Union to understand how the Real World works?
rumour has it that maybe by next week there will be strike.
Canada Post does not want to negotiate, they delegate! This is what we’re doing, do it! If it fails oh well will try it again in a few months. They do nothing but spend loads of cash on failed, poorly planed operational changes, they hire and train new employees who then end up not working. Stop hiring people you don’t need. Train your managers to organize properly, to know the operation, and who care to learn it. Canada post needs to make cuts at the top and work their way down. It’s absolutely shameful that the corporation is wasting money and blaming the bottom line workers. We do the work and then we get stepped on for wanting to put food on the table, spend time with family and friends, wanting to survive in retirement without overburdening work injuries, fairness and respect. Canada post has forgotten that we are human beings! There has to be some middle ground, find it, that’s what we deserve!
As long as Canada Post figures it can count on the government to have its back with anti-strike legislation, it has little incentive to negotiate in good faith.
It is no coincidence that a major airline reached a deal with pilots threatening to strike within days of the government making clear that it would not legislate them back to work.
The only way this ends with a negotiated agreement is if the government makes the same thing clear to Canada Post, and the only way that happens is if opposition parties (and disgruntled government backbenchers) make it clear to the government that they will not support back-to-work legislation.
Two opposition parties generally oppose such legislation. The official opposition has spent a fair bit of time and effort courting the labour vote recently. There is a unique opportunity to change the game this time around.
Imagine a strike or lockout this year. LC’s will be going home after about
1 1/2 hrs of work with nothing to do…👍
My customer sent everything FEDEX today!
Is it age 55 and 30 years of service to retire with a full pension? I keep hearing 35 years which I do not think is true. Does anyone have a concrete answer on this?
Full pension requires 35 years of service. Age for which you will receive unreduced pension depends on when you were hired. Pre-2013 it’s 60. Post 2012 it’s 65. This was one of the claw backs illegally forced on CUPW members by the Canadian government back in 2012 that’s yet to be addressed.
pre 2013 its 55 if you have 30 years of pension service.
The ultimate winner is CUPW as we have to pay another increase in union dues win or lose. About time membership demand for reforms within CUPW or switch to a new union.
first year hire means, when hired as temp or hired as permanent. My understanding is whoever hire at 2024 as temp will get 5% increment of his/her salary. Is it right?
I think anyone one with less than 10 years or less are going to be looking for a new job as the corp is going to be in trouble with the loss of huge revenue…the longer this goes
SURE SURE !!!!!!
“On Saturday, November 2, we focused on the short-term disability plan. Unfortunately, the Employer demonstrated little willingness to consider our demand to include 10 Medical Days and 7 Personal Days as part of our collective agreements. Canada Post refuses to move from its position of including 13 Personal Days, which does not represent an improvement from what we currently have..””.
this statement from the union is false and makes me very angry. The 13 days that they were “mandated” to give us is an upgrade (albeit they were forced into it) but nonetheless it is an upgrade and CP is offering to protect them in the contract at 13 personal days. We could lose them at any time and mark my words we will when we get a PC govt. in previous negotiations we asked for 10, never ever gained any and were always stuck at 7 for 12+ years and made do, then we get the “6” govt Trudeau days as people call them for 13 total and all of a sudden that’s not good enough (3 over the 10 we initially asked for) now we want want 17!! Where on earth does a company give out that many days…No wonder people think we are greedy good for nothing!
I totally aggree with your post, we now have the six paid plus the seven unpaid days, a definite improvement from our previous seven unpaid. If this is the sticking point, ( CUPW wanting another four paid days), then does that mean they’re close on issues like wages. Either way it sure doesn’t seem like a big enough reason to strike. Then again our union leadership, at the national and local level is almost totally made up of people who want to work as little as possible. Please CUPW, think about your members and Canada Post, act like adults, compromise, and get a deal done!
All day Saturday on this? We demand 17 days…well we offer 13 days….nope we can’t agree. Guess we will focus on something else tomorrow. Is there really any negotiation happening or just blank stares and no conversation????
City of Vancouver and city of Surrey gets sick days and personal days. CUPW members pre-2012 got 15 sick days, which was more than the current 13 personal days.
Less than 10 years or less?
5 years actually
There is very little news coverage for this event. Where can Canada Post customers get information?
There is a link to “Negotiations updates” at the bottom left of canadapost.ca website.
I am wondering if there is something that I can do to inform my customers about what will be happening. Some of my customers travel further than an hour one way to reach a post office. Should I suggest that they change to digital billing? Alternate parcel delivery? Will all of their mail be stopped? What is the plan for government cheques?
Government cheques will be delivered if a strike commences. Letter carriers have always been willing to deliver cheques during job actions.
The longer the negotiations the more money lawyer’s make. So why rush the process . After all cupw executives get paid. Canada post executives get paid everybody gets paid. Except the employees . We can only hope this continues since we get no proper info from either party. And we don’t get to vote on any contracts even though we have the democratic right to do so. Let’s see we don’t get paid we endure more anxiety concern and uncertain future and we don’t get to vote. Seems like we are chumps and letting happen. Time for Jack………Daniel’s.
Th future is uncertain, but you are certainly getting paid. Its just the company that isnt making money while we wait. So many big accounts switched till its over and may not return
We will get to vote on any negotiated settlement accepted/recommended by the union. We will not get to vote if the collective agreement is decided by arbitration.
Customers are all moving over to Purolator, which means the corp. is still making money just not through Canada Post. Purolator will be came the parcel company for the corporation. There won’t be flyers in a couple of years with everything going digital and fast food places having better deals on their apps than their mailings. There is barley any mail. The only thing left is parcels.
You don’t need 2 companies doing the exact same thing in your portfolio.
Couldn’t agree more. CP days are numbered. Maybe that’s why CUPW wants just a big raise 1st year. Get as much as you can before the ship goes down!
IF CANADA POST DAYS ARE NUMBERED, WHO DELIVERS THE MAIL???
Just speculation of the future, but…….There will always be a Canada Post in some form, it will just be a shadow of its former self. The government will always be obligated to provide rural mail delivery, but urban centers will be privatized. Letter carriers will cover much bigger areas delivering letter mail to comunity boxes, but parcels will go to couriers. As it is now the vast majority of rural addresses more than 30 min away from a city don’t get home delivery, they drive to the local post office to get it.
At the end of the day CP will still exist, but with a fraction of the people. It will be another government service that doesn’t make any money, and bleeds the taxpayers!
You’ve been hoodwinked! We are the only ones to deliver mail…We are not in the parcel and flyer business, they just love that cream that comes from it.
Canada Post is the only company recognized world wide to deliver mail in Canada. period. You are so right!
It is the CPC that is front row center in all of the International Agreements for the current exchange of mail incoming or outgoing, with some exceptions.
Canada Post should promote itself more aggressively domestically and internationally. This will loosely translate into more revenue. Profits, however, for the immediate future, are a different story.
Whichever political party forms the next federal government, they should feel obligated to bail out the CPC of its current financial situation, outside from whatever perceived gains the Union may negotiate in the next CBA for the employees.
What do I mean by “bail out”? The federal government can advance a short term financial parachute (loan) with strings attached in terms of certain conditions, efficiencies, efficacies, further checks and balances, sales goals and volume goals.
If the CPC meets pre-negotiated and achievable sales goals, adding new corporate / commercial customers and showing reasonable quarterly volume numbers, then the federal government of the day can extend financial assistance to help cover some of CPC’s financial woes and/or capital costs.
Federal governments have “bailed out” other provincial and federal institutions with financial assistance the past. Why not see CPC?
AND?????? WHAT IS YOUR CONCLUSION????
There are many companies delivering parcels.
Purolator does not have the national infrastructure that Canada Post has. Think of all the e-business that mail to and from small towns. Purolator doesn’t deliver there, neither do the other delivery companies. But Canada Post does.
Do something about the hours we begin in montreal area. We are the only ones in canada that routes start at 10:45. Its too late bring back the times to 9 am like it was this is ridiculous. All because of late parcels. Figure out a way with these late parcels. The rest of canada has reasonable starting times. We have families and some are single parents. 10:45 to 18:45 is not feasonable by tge tine we get home its 19:30. Daycares close at 17:00 how do you want us to manage this. They don’t care so we shoukd not care about them.
I’m not ok with this flexible plan, that it coould affect our work, so they can add work to us during the day if they judge we have too littke. But what if i got alot of circulars during the day and now when i come back after doing my route and the extra work they gave me and gotta prepare circulars galore. No I am agajnst this system leave the people that have full time routes alone.
Same tactics as usual, cp playing the good guys offering, and when we don’t agree everything off the table we the employees deserve the cola God knows you’ve been lining your pockets for years just look around almost 1 supervisor for every employee top heavy get rid of some, then maybe we wouldn’t be going out, our benefits should remain at 80% coverage not 50% as cp proposed,nobody wants to strike so cp be fair let’s face it you’ve never given us what we have ever asked for ?
Canada Post needs to drop ALL of the rollbacks and juice the offer!
No rollbacks
Better raise
Better pension
Better working conditions
I know this may be a silly question but where do I find current offers from both sides? I should be able to see that somewhere am I wrong? I’m in a tiny district with two routes and I don’t get allot of info there. Lol. I’d just like to know what we’re after?
Both sides seem to post only highlight versions of their respective offers, never the fine print. Check with your union local or supervisor. They may have more info.
Both parties have posted their latest offers on their respective websites.
For the employer, PDF versions are available for the urban and RSMC units on their respective pages of the Negotiations Hub.
For CUPW, there is a link to negotiations updates (including offers) on the home page.
Quality Update, thanks for beating CUPW with this captivating news.
Shoppers and London drugs outlets are refusing parcels today in lower mainland Vancouver. A sign?
I’m about to retire in the next couple of months.
I wish!!
RETIRE NOW!!!!!
Full pension after 25 years should be a must
Great news! Let’s hope both sides will be reasonable going forward. I don’t think many people can afford strike/lockout conditions.
The food and drinks are goooood
I like cake
I think postal workers deserve a pension after 25 years of full service. I’m fine with offering the unreduced pension for those under 55. Since the job is physical, requiring 35 years for a full pension seems unreasonable.
It’s not 35 years its 30.
Full pension is 35 years pensionable service. This 35 does not include casual time served
Yes it’s 35years and you have to be 55years old min
its is 30 years not 35
Full pension is 35 years of pensionable service
It is 35 for max 30 is reduced by 2% per year under 35. To max out you do need 35 makes over 200 a month difference
35 yrs full pension. 80/20 benefits CPC wants 50/50 but they say no rollbacks. They really think the workers are dumb. Letters will never totally disappear. The question is how expensive to deliver and which subsidies will come.
it’s 65/35 today not 80/20.
When will this be completed?
Anybody who can answer that question is certainty is busy picking their loto numbers.
If you don’t make a deal in the next few days volumes will erode further.
Do it ASAP
Can’t believe it’s almost going to be year and they are still negotiations happening. How hard can it actually be.
I know, what are they doing this whole time? I picture both sides just playing cards or darts all day and eating well. There is no reason that it should take this long except if both sides want to drag it out.
its just one side not agreeing to compromise
Exactly!! Negotiating for a year??? Wth is going on?
No idea but its not looking good
Management has refused to make a serious offer. They only gave a lowball offer last month. This is the same game management plays everytime negotiations are due. It always drags out for over a year.
Let’s get it done or there will.be peak and no parcels
Good news, we all lose with a strike/lockout.
Preety much
The problem is that we are all losing now by not doing anything. Most of the commercial businesses have switched off Canada Post as an option. 72 hour notice still leaves mail stranded so not worth the risk. This just makes it worse unfortunately.