THUNDER BAY — Leo Favreau is voting against Canada Post’s latest collective agreement offer and is encouraging his fellow union members to do the same.
“Vote no. And if you're thinking about voting yes, read up on it and learn what they're they're trying to give us because a yes vote just kills our jobs,” said Favreau in an interview with Newswatch.
The CUPW Local 620 president represents about 260 postal workers across Northwestern Ontario.
The Canada Industrial Relations Board has issued a notice forcing the union to vote on Canada Post's final offer after Canada’s jobs and families minister, Patty Hajdu, used her legislative powers to force Canada Post workers to vote on the company’s last offers last month.
Voting is open from Monday, July 21, until Aug. 1
If Canada Post's final offer is accepted, union members with see a wage increase, a signing bonus, a defined benefit pension and job security clauses.
However, Favreau said the wage increase won’t be enough to keep up with inflation.
“There's a few things that Canada Post wants to do that we're afraid of, and I'll be honest, we want job security like everybody else. We want, we want a livable wage and health and safety is important. All the things that we've been saying all along are still important to us,” Favreau said.
“To them, there's just been no give on anything. They want the rollbacks. For us, to keep up with inflation, we need the 24 per cent. Anything less than that and we're falling behind again. So, basically, we just want to be like everybody else and survive.”
Favreau clarified that the union isn’t actually asking for a 24 per cent wage increase over four years. They are only asking for 19 per cent, “which is behind inflation.”
“I'm at a loss. Every time we thought that negotiations were going to be the way out, it turned around," Favreau said.
"You look at December, we got forced back to work. Then we're talking about arbitration and going to see the minister. And suddenly, we're in a forced vote. It makes no sense to me. The vote is just delaying the inevitable. I believe we're gonna end up in arbitration.”
In December 2024, the federal government stepped in to end the Canada Post strike. After four weeks on the picket line and more than a year into negotiations, union workers were told to go back to work.
In May, another possible postal strike was narrowly avoided after the union decided to work towards arbitration. Postal workers would remain at their posts, but implement a work-to-rule policy until a collective agreement was ratified.
Now, more than 53,000 union members across Canada will cast their ballots electronically or by phone. The technology has Favreau worried that some members' votes might be left out.
“Not everybody is tech savvy, and they're trying to register themselves online. What I found is I actually had to use my phone and my laptop at the same time in order to register, but not everybody can do that,” Favreau said.
He said that each member has received an email detailing how to register to vote, but he is concerned about how online voting is going to affect those living in small rural areas.
I'm really afraid that they're going to be missing a lot of people, small town centres and stuff like that. They have the right to vote too. It's a mess. I don't think they were prepared for this kind of volume or what the job entailed,” Favreau said.
