Canada Post said Thursday it has finalized language in its tentative contract agreement with mail carriers, setting the table for the Canadian Union of Postal Workers to schedule a ratification vote.
The parties settled on contract terms Dec. 22, but some provisions still required work to get in their final form.
The five-year contract includes wage increases, enhanced benefits and the initiation of weekend parcel delivery with part-time workers, which Canada Post says is necessary to better compete with private carriers. According to CUPW, the agreement does not include Canada Post demands for dynamic routing and load leveling. It does include more opportunities for temporary workers to secure regular positions.
Canada Post, which has lost more than $3 billion over seven years, pushed for a flexible business model to compete in an environment of less mail demand and alternative parcel carriers. Dynamic routing would have allowed the corporation to plan and optimize delivery routes based on volumes, delivery addresses and pickup requests. The national post also wanted the ability for supervisors each morning to transfer mail volumes between carriers during scheduled hours to even their workloads rather than having each carrier work the same fixed routes.
Labor talks over more than two years were pockmarked with two general strikes, rotating strikes by area, and work slowdowns. The volatile labor situation caused huge uncertainty for households and businesses. Many e-commerce shippers switched to using private sector delivery companies, adding to the decline in Canada Post parcel volumes and revenues.
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