Local CUPW 812 President Nicole Chouinard isn’t surprised by Canada Post’s latest tactics that include rejecting calls from the union to submit their contract dispute to binding arbitration, a solution already backed by Ottawa.
The company says the union hasn’t responded to the global offer that was submitted back on May 28th.
Chouinard told Vista Radio the postal company crying wolf is laughable as it took them six months months to respond to a December offer put forth by the union.
“The union had put forward a global offer on December 9th of last year and it took Canada Post almost six months to respond. They didn’t respond until their global offer on May 28th so the fact they expect us to respond in a matter of days is unreasonable.”
“Canada Post wants to force a vote. There are four groups that work within our collective agreement and they have targeted one of those groups and they are hoping to get a yes vote from the other three. They don’t want to go to binding arbitration because that means both sides have to take some losses.”
The union wants its 55-thousand members to sign a letter to the federal jobs minister opposing the prospect of a forced vote.
“The fact that the government has gotten involved as much as they have at this point and potentially still can is insulting to the labour movement across this country,” added Chouinard.
The employees have been in a legal strike position since May 23rd, but have so far only placed a ban on overtime.
(From the Files of Brendan Pawliw staff)
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