In a last-ditch effort to deliver goods and presents for the festive holiday Christmas season, Canada Post has proposed to the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) that the two parties work together through until January and have offered a cooling-off period that would immediately end rotating strikes, allow for mediation to resume and introduce a process to achieve a final resolution.
As they say of the industrial action:
With the rotating strikes, resulting backlogs, and the massive Black Friday and Cyber Monday volumes that will arrive within days, we are trying everything we can to work together with the union – urgently – to deliver the holidays to Canadians. This proposal also includes a way for the parties to resolve their differences and these negotiations.
– Jessica McDonald, Chair of the Board of Directors and Interim President and CEO, Canada Post
If CUPW ends its strikes, the Canada Post says that it could begin to reduce the massive existing backlogs that threaten the seasonal delivery already. They say that there is an urgent need for Canada Post to restore full operations to helps small businesses, charities and other retailers at the most important ecommerce period of the year.
With hundreds of trailers loaded with parcels already backlogged at its facilities – and the growing repercussions for customers and the Canadian retail economy – the Canada Post proposal was open for acceptance until 5:00 p.m. on November 19th. After that time, Canada Post would lose its last window of opportunity to clear the backlogs before the oncoming wave of volumes reaches its facilities. The union has declined to agree with that offer.
It looks like postal deliveries in Canada will continue to be disrupted from now, right through the Black Friday/Cyber Weekend period that is coming up and through until Christmas. That’s is a real blow to online merchants who depend on the national postal service throughout the year.
One Response
They need to sit down and talk both sides