The two sides in the Canada post issue are still talking and it looks like the soonest we could see any job action will be Thursday as both sides have to provide 72 hours notice.
Negotiations continued over the long weekend as a legal strike or lockout position was reached on Saturday. Provided that the Canadian Union of Postal Workers gives 72 hours notice, 50,000 of its members are legally allowed to strike starting Saturday, and Canada Post is also allowed to lock out its workers.
But CUPW representatives say the union hasn’t presented its notice. And Canada Post has not served notice of a lockout.
The union and Canada Post both say the number one issue in negotiations involves changes to employee pension plans.
Canada Post provided new contract proposals a week ago, and on Friday, the union came forward with a counter-offer. The union is proposing wage hikes, and rejecting Canada Post’s suggestion that new employees get a pension plan that operates like an RRSP, called defined contribution, instead of the defined benefit plan for current employees that guarantees a set level of retirement benefits.
The last time Canada Post experienced a work stoppage was in 2011, which included 10 days of rotating strikes and a lockout before employees were legislated back to work by Ottawa.
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