Tuesday December 17, 2024 | NATIONAL
by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
Canada Post workers are back on the job today December 17, after being on strike since November 15.
On December 13 the Minister of Labour established a process with the Canada Industrial Relations Board (CIRB) to assess the likelihood of Canada Post and the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) reaching agreements by the end of 2024.
Resumption of service will begin today. About 2 million pieces of mail/parcels are stuck in the system, awaiting processing.
Timeline:
This comes after two days of hearing; the CIRB has issued its ruling confirming the parties are at an impasse. As a result, the CIRB ordered employees to return to work and postal operations to begin to resume at 8 am local time on today.
Impact on business:
Many businesses have been impacted during the postal strike. Invoices, cheques and statements could not be sent out; many businesses and services are nowadays digitized but not all.
“Given the timing and duration of the strike, when our operations resume we will need to begin processing the mail and parcels trapped in our network.” said Canada Post in statement yesterday. “It will take time to clear our network, so customers should expect delays in processing and delivery.”
Pickups and drop-offs:
Some limitations will apply for the first 48 hours after our operations resume – including for pickups and drop-offs. Because of this, we will not receive or pick up new product until Thursday, December 19.
Resuming operations:
Canada Post operations restart today December 17 to “begin the process of safely ramping up and stabilizing operations across the country”, says Canada Post.
“With our large, integrated network of processing plants, depots and post offices, stabilizing operations will take time and we ask for your patience as we do this safely,” says Canada Post.
“We will start by working through the mail and parcels trapped in the system since the strike began on November 15. New commercial volumes will not be accepted into the network until Thursday, December 19,” says Canada Post.
“This means we will not pick up or accept mail or parcels at our plants or depots for the first 48 hours. These first two days will give us the time we need to safely reopen facilities, restart machines and vehicles that have been idle for weeks and begin working through the volumes in our network.”
“As new volumes are accepted, mail and parcels will be secured and delivered on a first-in, first-out basis. Customers should expect delivery delays through the remainder of 2024 and into January 2025.”
Parcels
• Customers should expect delays and restrictions as operations are stabilized, including for pickups, drop-offs and delivery.
• Scheduled pickups will start on December 19, but it will take several days to process items. Best effort will be made to collect all items at the time of the pickup (or will return to pick up the remaining items either the same day or next day).
• On-demand pickups available starting Monday December 23.
On-time service guarantees
• Service guarantees are suspended as Canada Post ramps up operations. Customers will be notified once the network is stabilized as to the availability of on-time service guarantees are reinstated.
Return labels and call-for items
• All return labels created on or after November 15 will remain valid for up to 45 days until our operations stabilize.
• Clock will be restarted on all items currently held for customer pickup at post offices, regardless of whether the office was open or closed during the strike.
• As at December 17, customers will have 15 days to pick up their parcel before it is returned to the sender.
Package Redirection
• If you leveraged Package Redirection during the strike, we will do our best to locate and redirect your parcel. However, our ability to fulfill Package Redirection requests will be limited until operations stabilize.
International mail and parcels
• Canada Post will work to process a significant accumulation of international mail and parcels currently queued up to enter the postal system. Expect delays into 2025.
• New international mail will be accepted starting Monday December 23.
Neighbourhood Mail
• Date-specific Neighbourhood MailTM is not currently available. The service will resume once operations and volumes have stabilized.
Transaction Mail
• Service standards for Transaction Mail will be affected in the short term. Mail that is trapped in the network will be processed/delivered on a first-in, first-out basis. New volume will be handled as quickly as possible.
Retroactive pay:
A retroactive pay increase to employees is coming.
“While the terms of the existing collective agreements will be extended until May 22, 2025, we also put forward an offer to implement a wage increase of 5% for employees, which was proposed in the company’s last global offer,” says Canada Post.
“With both parties in agreement, the wage increase will be retroactive to the day after each collective agreement expired. The increase will remain in effect going forward, and the retroactive portion will be paid out to current employees in two portions:
• An upfront payment before Christmas of $1,000 for all CUPW-represented regular employees (full-time and part-time) and $500 for temporary employees based on a minimum number of hours.
• The wage increase and retroactive payment will be made no later than January 31, 2025.”
Collective agreements between Canada Post and CUPW expired on December 31, 2023, for the RSMC (Rural and Suburban Mail Carriers) unit and on January 31, 2024, for the urban unit.
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