Canada Post has informed the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) that it will be responding to the union’s recent offers with new global offers designed to move negotiations forward. This will allow the parties to return to the table next week. Work is already under way, as the offers must be accompanied by the detailed legal contractual language, which takes time to finalize.

CUPW’s offers from August 20 added significant new costs and restrictions at a challenging time for the Corporation. In response, Canada Post asked CUPW to come back to the table with workable solutions that reflect the company’s current realities and provide the basis for meaningful discussions.

As that has not occurred, Canada Post has decided to present new global offers with the hope that the parties can find common ground on important issues like weekend delivery.

With a planned return to the table, we have asked CUPW to amend its strike action and deliver the unaddressed flyers (Neighbourhood Mail) that are currently trapped in our network. The union announced its flyer ban last Friday, saying it was forced to take this action to get the parties back to the table, which is now occurring.

This small measure would help minimize the financial impact on many customers, such as community newspapers, small businesses and charities that spent money to print flyers and trusted Canada Post to deliver them. Instead, their items have been trapped in our facilities since the union’s flyer ban took effect. Canada Post will not be accepting new Neighbourhood Mail items until it can provide greater certainty.