Latest news with #collectiveAgreement
National Post
an hour ago
- Business
- National Post
Canada Post asks jobs minister to force union to vote on 'final offers'
Canada Post says it has asked Jobs Minister Patty Hajdu to force a union membership vote on the proposals the Crown corporation put forward earlier this week. Canada Post presented its 'final offers' to the union representing 55,000 workers on Wednesday, with concessions including an end to compulsory overtime and a signing bonus of up to $1,000. But it stuck to a proposal for a 14 per cent cumulative wage hike over four years and part-time staff on weekend shifts — a major sticking point in the talks. Article content Article content Canada Post said in a statement Friday that the parties are at an impasse and it believes the best hope of reaching a new collective agreement is a vote administered by the Canada Industrial Relations Board. Article content Article content The Crown corporation said this week it logged nearly $1.3 billion in operating losses last year, raising further questions about its business model as letter volumes plunge and fears of a second strike in six months persist. Article content Hajdu said in a statement that she and Secretary of State John Zerucelli met with Canada Post and union officials on Friday. Article content 'A strong postal service is vital to a united Canadian economy and to the many Canadians and businesses that depend on it,' she said. Article content 'I urged both parties to continue working together to find an agreement that works for both parties and maintains a strong and lasting postal industry.' Article content Article content The Canadian Union of Postal Workers said it shared its thoughts and concerns about negotiations and Canada Post's recent offers during the meeting. Article content Article content 'We were assured that the minister would continue to play an intermediary role in the bargaining process but will not intervene at this time,' it said in an update. Article content
CTV News
15 hours ago
- Business
- CTV News
Jobs minister urges Canada Post, union to find an agreement
Minister of Jobs and Families Patty Hajdu rises during question period in House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Thursday, May 29, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick Minister of Jobs and Families Patty Hajdu is urging Canada Post and the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) to come to an agreement that works for both parties. Hajdu, with Secretary of State John Zerucelli, met with CUPW and Canada Post earlier today. Canada Post requested the minister's office to direct that a vote take place on the final offer submitted by the company on Wednesday. The minister said her office 'is reviewing this order and will have more to say soon.' 'In the meantime, federal mediators will remain available to continue the work at the negotiating table.' This is a breaking news update. Below is The Canadian Press' previous story… OTTAWA — Canada Post says it has asked Jobs Minister Patty Hajdu to force a union vote on the proposals the Crown corporation presented to members earlier this week. Canada Post presented its 'final offers' to the union representing 55,000 workers on Wednesday, with concessions including an end to compulsory overtime and a signing bonus of up to $1,000. But it stuck to a proposal for a 14 per cent cumulative wage hike over four years and part-time staff on weekend shifts - a major sticking point in the talks. Canada Post says in a statement that the parties are at an impasse and it believes the best hope of reaching a new collective agreement is a vote administered by the Canada Industrial Relations Board. The Crown corporation said this week it logged nearly $1.3 billion in operating losses last year, raising further questions about its business model as letter volumes plunge and fears of a second strike in six months persist. Union representatives met with Hajdu on Friday and say rallies are planned across the country on Saturday.
CBC
17 hours ago
- Business
- CBC
Canada Post asks Ottawa to force postal workers' union to vote on 'final offers'
Canada Post says it has asked the federal jobs minister to force a union membership vote on the proposals the Crown corporation put forward earlier this week. Canada Post presented its "final offers" to the union representing 55,000 workers on Wednesday, with concessions including an end to compulsory overtime and a signing bonus of up to $1,000. But it stuck to a proposal for a 14 per cent cumulative wage hike over four years and part-time staff on weekend shifts – a major sticking point in the talks. Canada Post said in a statement Friday that the parties are at an impasse and it believes the best hope of reaching a new collective agreement is a vote administered by the Canada Industrial Relations Board. "Despite months of conciliation and mediation, the parties remain unable to reach new agreements at the table," it said. The Crown corporation said this week it logged nearly $1.3 billion in operating losses last year, raising further questions about its business model as letter volumes plunge and fears of a second strike in six months persist. WATCH | Canada Post warns of deeper losses: How Canada Post lost $3B in six years | About That 1 year ago Duration 10:15 Canada Post has a monopoly on Canadian letter delivery. But financial reports show the Crown corporation lost $748 million in 2023 alone and is expected to run out of money by early 2025. Andrew Chang explains how - even when parcel delivery is at an all-time high - the company can't catch a break, and what it means for your mail. CORRECTION (Nov. 12, 2024): An earlier version of this description said Canada Post lost $748 million in 2024. That number is the total losses before tax for 2023. According to Canada Post's most recent financial reports, it has so far lost $490 million in the first two quarters of 2024. Jobs Minister Patty Hajdu said in a statement that she and Secretary of State John Zerucelli met with Canada Post and Union officials on Friday. "A strong postal service is vital to a united Canadian economy and to the many Canadians and businesses that depend on it," she said. "I urged both parties to continue working together to find an agreement that works for both parties and maintains a strong and lasting postal industry." Union officials say rallies are planned across the country on Saturday.
RNZ News
3 days ago
- Business
- RNZ News
PSA says disability provider refusing to accept recommendation to settle pay dispute
Photo: RNZ The country's largest kaupapa Māori community disability provider Te Roopu Taurima o Manukau Trust is refusing to accept an Employment Relations Authority (ERA) facilitator's recommendation to settle a collective agreement, the Public Service Association (PSA) says . Te Roopu Taurima operates residential whare in Northland, Auckland, Waikato and Canterbury, and a residential mental health whare in Whangārei. PSA national secretary Kerry Davies said the union and Te Roopu Taurima spent 11 days in bargaining. Unable to reach a settlement, the PSA then applied for facilitation, which Te Roopu Taurima opposed. The ERA held a hearing and ordered the parties into facilitation which lasted four days. However, the facilitator's recommendations to settle the collective agreement for certain staff members seemed to have been ignored. "Kaitaataki and poutaataki [the leaders in disability residential homes] continue to be subject to a lockout of additional hours, despite how this can affect tangata, kaiawhina [support workers they lead] and their own whānau," Davies said. RNZ asked Te Roopu Taurima why it had yet to agree to the ERA facilitator's recommendations, if it went into facilitation in good faith, and what its plan was now to settle the dispute. Te Roopu Taurima declined to respond. Davies said the lack of a settlement was unusual and baffling. "Our members, many of whom are Māori, Pasifika, and migrant workers, have reported losses in earnings of hundreds of dollars, which as already underpaid workers, they cannot afford. "At the same time the lockout is resulting in shortages of available staff in some whare. It's a ridiculous lose-lose situation for Te Roopu Taurima, its workers and the people they care for," Davies said. Both parties in an ERA facilitation have a responsibility to seriously consider and accept the recommendations, except in extraordinary circumstances. "Te Roopu Taurima and its bargaining team, who seem determined to continue a dispute without good cause, are failing the workers and the people who rely on them for support," Davies said. ERA facilitation recommendations are not binding. The PSA said if Te Roopu Taurima continued to ignore the recommendations then bargaining and industrial action would continue.
CBC
21-05-2025
- Business
- CBC
Canada Post is in trouble. Here are the facts
Social Sharing Canada Post employees will be in a strike position on Friday, threatening to suspend its mail and parcel delivery across the country. The Canadian Union of Postal Workers, which represents 55,000 of the service's employees, says if there is no progress on a new collective agreement, its members will walk off the job. If that happens, no new mail will be accepted and any items already in the system will be held until the strike is over. Here are the facts on why it's so bad. Here we go again You could be forgiven for asking why we're facing a strike when we just had one in November and December that lasted 32 days and deeply disrupted everything from Christmas gifts to passport delivery. The reason is that that labour dispute was never resolved. After it dragged on for a month with no progress, the labour minister at the time, Steven MacKinnon, told the Canada Industrial Relations Board to order those employees back to work. That happened on Dec. 17. The expired collective agreement was extended until May, with a five per cent wage increase. The idea was that the extension would give both sides time to negotiate a new deal. But that failed, and here we are. How bad is it? About as bad as it gets. The last time it made a profit was 2017. Since then it has lost $3 billion. The annual loss in 2023 was $748 million, even worse than 2022 when it lost $548 million, according to its latest annual report. Until recently, Canada Post funded its operations without any taxpayer money. But that changed in January, when the federal government loaned it $1 billion to stay afloat. This summer, Canada Post will have to refinance other loans worth $500 million and, it says, by 2026 it will need $1 billion a year from the government just to meet its financial obligations. Canada Post has been described as " effectively insolvent, or bankrupt" and its situation as a " death spiral." Fewer letters Canada Post hit peak letter delivery nearly 20 years ago. In 2006, it delivered 5.5 billion letters. In 2023 it delivered only 2.2 billion letters, and that includes a lot of bills and other official correspondence. A lot of people in this country have grown up never knowing the practice of writing a letter to someone and putting it in the mail. But here's the thing. Letters are an albatross around Canada Post's neck. It has a monopoly on delivering them. In return, it agrees to service every single address in Canada (although that doesn't necessarily mean home delivery) at the same price (the cost of a stamp). This is where the numbers really bite. Since 2006, Canada has added three million new addresses as the population has grown. Canada Post has to serve them all. But it's delivering more than three billion fewer letters to them. The mismatch of revenue and expenses is now so bad, it prompts descriptions like " existential crisis." WATCH | Facing an existential crisis: 'Our delivery model has to change,' says Canada Post spokesperson as strike looms 16 hours ago Duration 11:28 What about parcels? When it comes to parcel delivery, there is no monopoly, and there is no set price. You may pay more for shipping depending on where you live, and companies aren't obligated to serve you. You'll easily recognize the big name competitors: FedEx, UPS, DHL, as well as the other players who are contracted by the likes of Amazon. Canada Post admits it's getting beaten. Badly. In 2019, it delivered 62 per cent of the packages in this country. In 2023, it was only 29 per cent. What makes that figure even more devastating is that Canada Post is continuing to rapidly lose its share of a rapidly expanding market. Millions more parcels are delivered every year in this country, but Canada Post is getting less and less of the action. Canada Post says part of the reason it can't compete is that it doesn't deliver on weekends, while many private companies do. It wants to hire more part-time staff to work those days, but the union says that amounts to gig work, and won't accept it. Jobs for life? Really? Canada Post claims most of its employees can't be laid off under any circumstances, which it characterizes as "jobs for life." Indeed the collective agreement says "there shall be no temporary or permanent lay-off of any employee (excluding term employees)" who have been employed for more than five continuous years, in the case of older employees. More recent hires need 10 years of experience to avoid layoffs. Canada Post claims the vast majority of its workforce is in that situation. It says all of this leaves it in that existential crisis, and the situation has to change. The union says there's still time to get back to the bargaining table. But at the moment, mail delivery is set to stop by the end of the week.
