Canada Post may be halting operations in July if the national mail service can’t come to an agreement with its workers.
The company started negotiations with its two main unions, Urban Postal and Rural and Suburban Mail Carriers, at the end of 2015.
“Unfortunately we weren’t making a lot of progress in the negotiations so Canada Post initiated a conciliation process, which is established by the Canadian Labour Code. The minister of labour appoints a third party, a conciliator, in order to help the parties make progress,” said Mouktar Abdillehi, spokesperson with Canada Post.
Abdillehi explained the process takes 90 days, 60 days of which are spent in negotiations and 30 days of “cooling off”. The “cooling off” period will end at the end of June.
“Throughout the process we’ve tried to keep our customers informed so they can prepare accordingly for any eventuality. During the conciliation process, there can be no legal disruption or strike,” Abdillehi said.
As of July, the workers will be entitled to legally strike operations if they choose to do so.
“Whether they’ll strike is speculation. Where we’re at, at this point, is we’re working every day to get a deal, that’s what we’re focused on,” Abdillehi explained.
“We understand how important these negotiations are and how important our service is to Canadians. We want a deal that is fair to our employees, that is affordable to the corporation, and that doesn’t burden customers,” Abdillehi said.
Canada Post customers can visit the corporation’s website, canadapost.ca, for the most up to date information about the negotiations and services. If a strike were to take place, mail operations will halt but customers can still access Western Union services through their local branch as well as purchase stamps and coins.
