Latest news with #labourDispute
National Post
12-06-2025
- Business
- National Post
Ottawa will have CUPW members vote on Canada Post's 'final" offer
Federal Jobs Minister Patty Hajdu says she's going to put Canada Post's latest offers to unionized postal workers up for a vote in the hope of breaking a long-standing impasse between the parties. Article content She says in a social media post it's in the 'public interest' to give members of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers an opportunity to vote on the offers, which Canada Post says are its 'final' proposals. Article content Hajdu says that the Canada Industrial Relations Board will be directed to conduct the vote 'as soon as possible.' Article content Canada Post and its union have been negotiating for roughly a year and a half on a new deal for workers while the postal service's financial plight has grown worse. Article content See my statement on the ongoing labour dispute between the Canada Post Corporation and the Canadian Union of Postal Workers: — Patty Hajdu (@PattyHajdu) June 12, 2025 Article content The union has pushed back on the idea of a membership vote on the latest offer and has called for arbitration. Article content Article content
National Post
08-06-2025
- Business
- National Post
Another delivery system disruption as DHL Express Canada locks out workers and union strikes
Unifor says DHL Express Canada locked out workers just after midnight today as the two sides failed to reach a contract deal, injecting more labour turmoil into the country's parcel delivery market. Article content The union, which represents 2,100 truck drivers, couriers and warehouse workers across seven provinces, says they went on strike in response at 11 a.m. ET. Article content Article content Unifor says the German-owned carrier is proposing to change the driver pay system and planning to use replacement workers before legislation banning them comes into effect on June 20. Article content Article content The work stoppage, which affects package delivery across the country, comes as Canada Post remains at loggerheads with 55,000 workers, whose union last month imposed an overtime ban that scales back parcel services. Article content Article content
CTV News
06-06-2025
- Business
- CTV News
Clear Medical Imaging employees finally have first collective agreement
Employees at Clear Medical Imaging finally have a first collective agreement. An arbitrator announced the three-year agreement on May 29 after the employer and the union representing its workers entered binding arbitration on March 20. Unifor Local 2458 secretary/treasurer Mike Kisch said they are glad there is finally a collective agreement in place, but they didn't get everything they hoped for. 'It's a great foundation; it definitely levels the playing field,' he said. 'Now we're working on resolving a few issues that we need to work with Clear Medical Imaging on. We need to basically recreate a relationship.' The labour dispute started when the workers walked off the job on Oct. 25, 2024, to back demands in their first-ever contract negotiations with the company. The eight-week-long strike ended on Dec. 20, 2024, after the two sides failed to reach a deal, despite working with a provincial conciliation officer for more than three months. A forced vote initiated through the Ontario Labour Relations Board was also rejected by the members by 96 per cent, which led to binding arbitration. Key issues during the labour dispute revolved around wages, benefits, mandatory overtime, job security, and the contracting out of services. Kisch said they lost around two dozen employees during the negotiations to local hospitals or other clinics. 'Primarily it had to do with the wages, so we're hoping with this collective agreement, it at least slows that down so we don't keep losing members, but we completely understand that if you can go to greener pastures, people are going to do that,' he said. Unifor Local 2458 represents approximately 120 employees who work as x-ray and ultrasound technologists and clerical and administrative staff across 11 Clear Medical Imaging locations in Windsor, LaSalle, Tecumseh, Essex, and Chatham. Kisch said they want to be a partner with the employer. 'We definitely want Clear Medical to be successful for a few reasons, one being the important services they provide to all of our communities in Windsor-Essex and Chatham-Kent, but also for our members to have good, secure, well-paying jobs,' he said. - Written by Rusty Thomson/AM800 News.
CBC
05-06-2025
- Business
- CBC
B.C. port foremen's union and employers ratify 4-year deal
Maritime employers in British Columbia and the union representing port foremen say they have ratified a new four-year collective agreement, after a dispute that saw workers locked out of container terminals last year. The British Columbia Maritime Employers Association and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Ship and Dock Foremen Local 514 said in a joint statement that the new collective agreement extends from April 1, 2023, to March 31, 2027. "We look forward to working together to implement the terms of the agreement," the two sides said in the statement. It is the second major labour deal for Canada's West Coast ports that will be in place until March 2027, after an earlier agreement with thousands of port workers that was signed in August 2023 following a strike. WATCH | Lockout initiated by port employers last year: Foremen set to be locked out amid contract dispute at B.C. ports 7 months ago Duration 2:49 Hundreds of foremen in Vancouver and Port Rupert were locked out by their employer, the B.C. Maritime Employers' Association, on Monday afternoon, with the employer calling it a "defensive action" after port workers served 72 hours strike notice. The union says the BCMEA is overreacting. The details of the new deal with supervisors have not been released, and neither the employers association nor the union representing roughly 700 supervisors immediately responded to requests for comment. They had been without a deal since the last accord expired in March 2023. The union had said port automation was a major concern, with supervisors wanting assurances on staffing levels regardless of the technology being used at B.C. ports. The negotiations were contentious at times, with Local 514 filing a complaint against the employers with the Canada Industrial Relations Board alleging direct contact with members during talks. The employers association had called the complaint meritless, noting its offer to the union at the time included a 19.2 per cent wage increase over the four-year term of the deal. The dispute took its most drastic turn on Nov. 4, when employers locked out members of Local 514 in what they called a defensive action. The union had voted to authorize strike action but said at the time that members were only planning partial job actions such as an overtime ban when they were locked out. Container cargo traffic at terminals on the West Coast were halted in the dispute, eventually prompting the federal government to step in on Nov. 12. That was when the federal labour minister at the time, Steven MacKinnon, directed the Canada Industrial Relations Board to order the resumption of all operations and move talks to binding arbitration.
Globe and Mail
04-06-2025
- Business
- Globe and Mail
Jobs Minister presses Canada Post, union to reach a deal
Jobs Minister Patty Hajdu is calling on Canada Post and the union representing 55,000 postal workers to return to the bargaining table and hash out terms for binding arbitration. In a social media statement Wednesday, the minister also asked the Crown corporation and the Canadian Union of Postal Workers to continue to work toward a deal outside of that process. She says arbitration is 'not the preferred path,' but suggested the stage would be set for an imposed settlement if the two sides could not find common ground themselves. 'Canadians expect the parties to resolve this dispute one way or another. To do that they must meet and pursue these two paths with urgency,' Hajdu said on X, formerly known as Twitter. Federal mediators are standing by to help, she added. Canada Post asks Jobs Minister Patty Hajdu to force union vote on 'final offers' Canada Post workers rally in 13 cities to raise awareness of labour dispute On Friday, Canada Post asked the minister to force a union vote on its 'final offers,' while the union requested binding arbitration, which the employer rejected. The union said Tuesday that a forced vote on a new contract would amount to a 'government attack on our rights to free collective bargaining.' It also said it had been given a Wednesday deadline to respond to the latest offers, which include an end to compulsory overtime and a signing bonus of up to $1,000, among other concessions. But the employer stuck to its proposal for a 14 per cent cumulative wage hike over four years, a 'dynamic routing' pilot that could see mail carriers' routes change daily in response to parcel volume, and part-time staff on weekend shifts – a major sticking point in the talks. Canada Post has warned that arbitration would be 'long and complicated' and would likely last more than a year, adding to its significant financial challenges. The Crown corporation said last week it logged nearly $1.3-billion in operating losses last year, raising further questions about its business model as letter volumes plunge and fears of a second disruption in six months persist. The union again adopted a legal strike position starting May 23, but it has opted instead to ban members from working overtime while negotiations continued. The 32-day work stoppage in November and December halted millions of letters and packages in the peak shipping season ahead of the winter holidays last year. Shippers fled Canada Post in droves when workers went on strike Nov. 15. Rather than be caught flat-footed a second time, plenty of e-commerce companies have played it safe by booking with other couriers. Canada Post says parcel volumes are down 65 per cent from the same time last year due to uncertainty over the contract negotiations.
