Canada Post negotiations continue past deadline for strike
Negotiations on a new contract for Canada’s postal workers continued past a midnight strike deadline into early Friday after the federal postal service made a new offer.
Deborah Bourque, president of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers, said the offer fell short of the basis for a tentative agreement, but called it “a sign that Canada Post may be taking negotiations seriously.”
It was unclear how long the talks would continue.
Both the union representing 45,000 postal workers and Canada Post have said in recent days they wanted to avoid a strike. Key issues in the contract talks were wages and benefits, as well as job security, workload and safety.
The workers have been without a contract since Jan. 31, and 92 percent supported giving the union a strike mandate last month.
Canada Post employees last went on strike in December 1997. The federal government passed emergency legislation to force them back to work within two weeks.
The Canadian Federation of Independent Business warned Thursday that a strike could further harm the economy already weakened by the SARS outbreak and other problems.
