CUPW has learned through a media advisory that the Minister responsible for Canada Post, Joël Lightbound, will give an update on the future of Canada Post tomorrow (September 25) at 12:45pm ET. The advisory explains that the Minister will provide “details on new measures to address the challenges facing Canada Post and advance its transformation.”
Although CUPW leadership met with Minister Lightbound last week, he gave no indication this announcement was coming. The Union does not have any details about what the Minister plans to announce. We were supposed to meet with the Minister again this week, but that meeting has been postponed. We may find out why tomorrow.
Silence from Canada Post
It has been over 50 days since Canada Post learned of the membership’s rejection of its “final offers,” and 35 days since the Union provided its latest offers on August 20. What is Canada Post management waiting for? Where is the urgency Canada Post spoke of in July? Do they think we will forget what we rejected? Or is possible that Canada Post is waiting for more help from the government?
Given the announcement set for tomorrow and that we learned through the media today that Canada Post is expected to present new global offers to us on Friday, we may soon have an answer to these questions. Canada Post has yet to confirm this with the Union.
This shouldn’t surprise us. Canada Post prefers to talk with anyone but the Union. We are left wondering how Canada Post can claim to want to resolve our labour dispute when it refuses to communicate its intentions directly with us or at least through the federal mediators.
Presenting the offers on Friday gives the Union no time to adequately respond to members before the weekend. Negotiators will need time to read and decipher the offers, bulletins will need to be written, translated, and sent to members. All of this work takes time. CPC will use this time to push its own message and agenda to stoke division in the Union. This is all part of their plan. Don’t be surprised.
The timing of the announcement coupled with new global offers could reveal a lot about Canada Post’s plans for bargaining, our jobs and the future of the public post office. If Canada Post drops it demands to gut the contracts and deal with our issues; we can come to an agreement quickly. If they ignore the overwhelming vote to reject their vision from the employees that do the work, they are proving they have no intention to achieve negotiated collective agreements.
In solidarity,