Calgary postal workers stay working, ban overtime amid Canada Post negotiations

There's no strike yet, but postal workers have been told to refuse all overtime as talks continue at Canada Post.

The Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) is asking its 55,000 members to refuse any overtime work as a deal has yet to be struck with Canada Post.

The union says it’s going this route to “minimize disruptions to the public and lost days to members.”

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CUPW is in a legal strike position as of midnight, but said it’s still going over the offer proposed on Wednesday.

The union threatened the overtime ban unless Canada Post agreed to a two-week “truce” prior to the deadline – something the company rejected.

“Because we needed time to look into the offer that Canada Post had provided us. It’s a lot of pages with legal wording that would go into our contract. And so, when they refused to give us the extension of two weeks after threatening to change the terms of employment of our members, we were left with no option but to review it,” said Wycliffe Oduor, president of CUPW Calgary Local 710.

The overtime ban also comes after an evening meeting between the two sides requested by union.

A Canada Post spokesperson said the meeting lasted less than half an hour and “was unfortunately not enough to demonstrate meaningful progress.”

CUPW has previously asked for a wage increase of 19 per cent over four years, while Canada Post has offered 13.59 per cent over four years.

A key sticking point in negations continues to be weekend delivery. Both sides agree with expanding weekend services, but disagree whether full-time or part-time staff should man the shifts.

Despite the mail service still running almost as normal, Canada Post says customers have already started turning to other competitors in anticipation of another work stoppage.