“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,” said MaryAnn Mihychuk, Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Labour.

GATINEAU – The Justin Trudeau government reached a tentative deal the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW), averting a possible strike that threatened to impact families and businesses.

“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,” said MaryAnn Mihychuk, Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Labour.

“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.”

Mihychuk said helping these parties in their negotiations is her responsibility as Labour Minister, and Canadians expected our government to do everything 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,” she said.

On Friday, Mihychuk 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.