There is still a chance talks may occur between Canada Post and the Canadian Union of Postal Workers.
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“We appreciate the offer to help, but paying women equally for work of equal value is the law of the land; it’s not something that can be awarded or withheld by an arbitrator”, said Mike Palecek, national president of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers.
Canada Post is extending the current 72-hour notice period to Monday at 12:01 am to provide time for the union to consider this option.
The dispute revolves, in part, around such issues as potential changes to pension plans for new employees, the future of door-to-door mail delivery and differences in the way rural and urban postal workers are compensated.
But the two sides are still believed to be very far apart.
Instead, the union hopes to reach a negotiated settlement. It will be because they’ve been “locked out” by Canada Post.
The union says rural and suburban mail carriers – most of whom are women – are paid nearly 30% less than their mostly male counterparts in larger urban centres.
A Canada Post employee fills a community mail box in Dartmouth, N.S. on Thursday, June 30, 2016.
The union representing Canada’s 50,000 Canada Post workers is saying thanks, but no thanks.
The union has vowed not to go on strike, creating a stare-down between the two parties with one side waiting for the other to blink.
Already, private courier companies are seeing a bump in business.
Canadians could lose nearly all of Canada Post’s services when corporation suspends the collective agreement.
The agreement set up a new pay rate to replace a system where carriers bid on rural routes where costs were based on decades-old guidelines, said Geoff Bickerton, the union’s research director, who was involved in those negotiations.
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On Monday, Canada Post said it was “extremely disappointed” in the response from the CUPW at the bargaining table in recent days.
