Unionized workers at Canada Post vote against latest contract offer

Unionized workers at Canada Post have rejected the Crown corporation's latest contract offer in two votes.

The offer was turned down with 68.5 per cent of ballots (23,440) cast by urban postal operation workers, according to the Canada Industrial Relations Board, which reported an 80.4 per cent overall turnout (34,228 of 42,574 voters).

In the second vote, 69.4 per cent of voters among rural and suburban mail carriers rejected the offer. Some 82.8 per cent of workers turned out (9,142 of 11,040 voters).

The vote comes after more than a year and a half of talks with the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW), which represents about 55,000 postal service workers.

Referring to Canada Post's "final offers," a spokesperson said in a statement on Friday evening that the Crown corporation was "disappointed in the results" and would be evaluating its next steps.

"This result does not lessen the urgent need to modernize and protect this vital national service," the statement reads. "However, it does mean the uncertainty that has been significantly impacting our business — and the many Canadians and Canadian businesses who depend on Canada Post — will continue."

The offer included wage hikes of about 13 per cent over four years, but it also would have added part-time workers that Canada Post has said are necessary to keep the postal service afloat.

Voting opened on July 21 after federal Jobs Minister Patty Hajdu asked the Canada Industrial Relations Board to step in and put Canada Post's latest offer to a vote.

Jan Simpson, CUPW's national president, had urged unionized workers to reject the proposal in order to protect the integrity of the bargaining process, and she criticized Hajdu for forcing a vote.

"By saying yes, we tell them that it's acceptable to ignore free and fair collective bargaining, dismiss our union's democratic processes and structures, and send a message to governments that it's okay to trample over your rights as a worker," she said in a statement published on July 17.

Dan Kelly, president of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, said in a statement on Friday that the results add "more uncertainty at a time when small businesses are already struggling to plan ahead."

He called on Ottawa to extend the current collective bargaining agreement for the foreseeable future and added that the "government also needs to immediately give Canada Post the full authority to make the major reforms needed to ensure it is financially sustainable."