POSTAL LOCKOUT/STRIKE UPDATE: BINDING ARBITRATION PROPOSED BY GOVT

[momcqueen]

Good news overnight on the looming postal lockout/strike front. To paraphrase The Godfather, the federal government has made an offer they can't refuse. 

https://www.canadapost.ca/web/en/blogs/announcements/details.page?article=2016/07/06/canada_post_pre...

Canada Post Prepared to Submit to Binding Arbitration

Federal Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Labour, MaryAnn Mihychuk, has asked both Canada Post and the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW-Urban and CUPW-RSMC) to submit to binding arbitration to resolve the current impasse at negotiations.

The Canada Post Corporation has already agreed. "It is our hope that CUPW will consider submitting to binding arbitration to end the uncertainty. Canada Post is extending the current 72-hour notice period to Monday at 12:01 am to provide time for the union to consider this option."

It would be suicide for the unions to refuse, although I do expect they will make a show of doing so and wait until the final moments to concede. Binding arbitration is the best we can hope for at this point.

[momcqueen]

Other sources but none are quoting CUPW reaction as of yet:

http://www.timescolonist.com/canada-post-delays-lockout-seeks-binding-arbitration-1.2295810

http://www.660news.com/2016/07/06/canada-post-extends-lockout-notice-will-allow-for-binding-arbitrat...

https://www.thestar.com/business/2016/07/07/canada-post-lockout-deadline-extended-until-monday.html

[fort2b]

it is great news for sure.

once this goes to arbitration there will be no postal disruption of any kind......unless it's illegal which is highly doubtful.

the union would be crazy not to accept.....arbitration always favours the union workers.  I can't believe Chopra agreed to it...I hadn't held out even faint hope for arbitration.

it's basically over, from out point of view and we can return to business as usual.

[momcqueen]

I know! I'm not prone to fits of elation but this news is so good that I am virtually frolicking across alpine meadows Julie Andrews-style. 

[cumos55]

Binding arbitration = No strike and No lockout

If this is correct then we would be back to selling.....100 %

Now, like always it will be wait and see!

[momcqueen]

I have to be outside the house for much of the morning but as soon as I get back, I am going to start undoing the things I did in order to address possible delays in order to stay open: set my handling time back to same-day, lower postage prices etc. As far as I am concerned, this threat is over and done. The union simply cannot say 'no' to this. Binding arbitration will fix everything. Hurray to the federal government for moving proactively on this. It was more than I dared to hope.

[ricarmic]

Hmm I just talked with someone who heard on the radio a newsflash that the union rejected the binding arbitration request. Or at least thats what they thought they heard and that the radio announcer said a strike would happen on monday??? Unfortunately they aren't someone who cares as much as us, hopefully they just heard wrong... I don't see any updates anywhere regarding a union response yet....

[pierrelebel]

http://www.cfra.com/news/2016/07/07/cupw-rejects-binding-arbitration

The Canadian Union of Postal Workers has rejected an offer from Canada Post to send their contract dispute to binding arbitration.

Canada Post put off its lockout deadline from Friday until Monday morning to give the union and opportunity to consider the proposal.

But national CUPW president Mike Palecek is refusing the offer, saying it's a matter of principle.

One of the main stumbling blocks is the pay differential between urban mail carriers and rural carriers, who are overwhelmingly women.

Palecek says equal pay for work of equal value is the law of the land, not something that can be granted or withheld by an arbitrator.

[fort2b]

I don't believe this.

If equal pay is the law of the land, as claimed then an arbitrator will decide in favour of the union.

CUPW better change it's mind pdq.   I was on the union's side up to now but no longer.

[fort2b]

CUPW just made a big blunder.  The vast majority of public support will be against them now.  Stupid move.

[momcqueen]

It will be political suicide for the Union to refuse the offer of binding arbitration. Their members will revolt, the Canadian public will turn against them, and the government will not forgive it. Trust me on this. 

[fort2b]

I agree.  Palecek  is going to regret this move.  It will probably cost him his job as union head.  He's going to cost the union members 2 or 3 months pay,  enrage the nation against CUPW and end up with a worse deal then an arbitrator would give in the end.

When I see my letter carrier to day i'm going to give her a blast.  Hopefully she'll pass it along to the top.

[momcqueen]

https://www.thestar.com/business/2016/07/07/canada-post-lockout-deadline-extended-until-monday.html

The union has, in fact, said 'no' to this offer they cannot refuse. This is a major tactical blunder if it's for real, and not just posturing. I think it may be just posturing. By Sunday night, I predict they will recant and say their membership has told them so. If not, they had better begin to source real estate in another country, because they will be run out of town on a rail.

[pierrelebel]

From CUPW website

http://www.cupw.ca/

‘Equality is the law, not an award’: Pay equity for rural carriers not a case for arbitration: CUPW

Thursday July 7 2016

For Immediate Release - OTTAWA- Postal workers have politely declined a suggestion from federal Minister of Labour MaryAnn Mihychuk to bring negotiations with Canada Post management to binding arbitration, saying it’s a matter of principle. “We appreciate the offer to help, but paying women equally for work of equal value is the law of the land; it’s not something that can be awarded or withheld by an arbitrator,” said Mike Palecek, national president of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers.

[fort2b]

this is a classic blunder.  Unbelievable.  Even Trudeau won't be on his side anymore.   Back to work legislation will happen for sure now.  What a dummy Palecek is.  He is going to have so much heat coming down on him now....from the union members, from the gov't, from the public.

I know what's going on......Palecek thinks this is a sign of weakness on the part of CP and that he's got them by the shorts.  Wrong.

My guess as to how this will go:

CP will say they regret CUPW's decision and will still give them the 72 hour extension to reconsider.

CUPW will feel so much public and gov't heat that they will reconsider by Sunday and it will still go to arbitration.

[momcqueen]

Yes, but you can't feed your children on principle.

If the union position is so right and just, the arbitrator will surely see it as such. It's a no-brainer.

I stand by my prediction that the Union head will recant by Sunday night, or face lynch mobs of no bounds. The union will say they've heard from their members, and opt to agree for binding ambition. To reject it outright at first is their due, on principle, so that they can tell themselves they fought the good fight until the end.

(And if this is really about equal pay for female rural carriers like the CUPW asserts then OBVIOUSLY the arbitrator will agree women warrant equal pay, like DUH.)

[fort2b]

Equality is the law, not an award’: Pay equity for rural carriers not a case for arbitration: CUPW

Well if that's true then an arbitrator will for sure decide in CUPW's favour.  No need to decline arbitration.  

[momcqueen]

Right! It's as if CUPW doesn't understand how arbitration actually works. Or the union boss(es) are so high on themselves that they cannot see straight any longer. 

[pierrelebel]

"Well if that's true then an arbitrator will for sure decide in CUPW's favour."

If it is true today, it was true four years ago, ten years ago, fifteen years ago.  Why did CUPW not mention it and take a stand before?

[momcqueen]

I know, really. Suddenly this issue is about Women's Rights? Seems as if they are grasping at any straw they think the public (and membership) might find palatable.