Federal government to put latest Canada Post offer up for union vote

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 longstanding impasse between the parties.

She says in a social media post that 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.

Hajdu says that the Canada Industrial Relations Board will be directed to conduct the vote "as soon as possible."

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.

The union has pushed back on the idea of a membership vote on the latest offer and has called for arbitration.

Canada Post has argued arbitration would be too slow and has asked the federal government to put the latest offers up to a vote.

More to come.