Minister wants Canada Post, union back at table to talk arbitration

Jobs Minister Patty Hajdu is urging Canada Post and the Canadian Union of Postal Workers to return to the negotiating table with federal mediators.

Jobs Minister Patty Hajdu says she’s asked Canada Post and the union representing its postal workers to return to the negotiating table.

In a post on X, Hajdu stated she had requested the two parties to return and work with federal mediators on negotiating terms for an arbitration process to conclude this round of bargaining and to have the union table its response to the Crown corporation’s most recent offers.

“Arbitration is not the preferred path to an agreement for either side, and each will have priorities it wants recognized,” Hajdu wrote. “For that reason, attempts to negotiate a settlement must continue. Canadians expect the parties to resolve this dispute one way or another.”

The minister’s call for a return to talks comes just three days after Canada Post rejected the union’s request for binding arbitration, saying it would be “long and complicated.”

On Sunday, the Crown corporation said it was seeking a “timely and fair resolution” that would ensure employees would “have a voice” through a vote.

The Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) made the request on Saturday, a day after Canada Post asked Hajdu to direct the postal workers’ union to hold a vote on the “final offers” the national mail carrier presented last week.

The Crown corporation had said in asking for the vote that it was not possible to reach tentative agreements through negotiations “given the level of impasse and CUPW’s negotiating position.”

The request was made the same day the union was meeting with Hajdu and Secretary of State for Labour John Zerucelli.