Statement by the Honorable MaryAnn Mihychuk, Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Labour
GATINEAU, QC, Aug. 30, 2016 /CNW/ - I am pleased that Canada Post and the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) have successfully reached new tentative agreements. This means that Canadian families and businesses can continue to rely on the postal service to be there for them when they need it.
These tentative agreements, reached voluntarily by the parties, are an important reminder for us all that a fair and balanced collective bargaining process works and can achieve real results for Canadian workers and employers.
Each side came to this negotiation with a long history of difficult strikes and lockouts. The leaders of Canada Post and CUPW met face-to-face for the first time when I invited them to a meeting with Minister Brison on August 19. Both parties took this opportunity to put Canadians first and helped avoid a strike or lockout.
Helping these parties in their negotiations is my responsibility as Labour Minister, and Canadians expected our government to do everything we could to help these negotiations succeed. That is why I closely monitored the situation, reaching out to the two sides over and over, urging them to work together.
On Friday, I appointed William Kaplan as a special mediator and he, alongside Guy Baron and our mediation team, has been working at the table to help both parties hammer out a deal. Together they winnowed down the outstanding issues, taking them one at a time, and solving each in turn. The tentative agreements the parties have reached demonstrate that persistent, positive efforts by our government had an impact, and Canadians will directly benefit.
The Government of Canada would like to thank Mr. Kaplan, Mr. Baron and the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service team for their hard work on behalf of Canadians. Our government would like to thank Canada Post and CUPW for coming together and reaching these new tentative collective agreements.
These tentative agreements must now be ratified by employees. I will continue to monitor the situation closely.
Associated Links
Statement by the Honourable MaryAnn Mihychuk, Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Labour (August 26, 2016)
Statement by the Honourable MaryAnn Mihychuk, Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Labour (August 25, 2016)
Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service
SOURCE Employment and Social Development Canada
John O'Leary, Director of Communications, Office of the Honourable MaryAnn Mihychuk, P.C., M.P., Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Labour, 819-654-5611; Media Relations Office, Employment and Social Development Canada, 819-994-5559, [email protected]
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