After hitting a record backlog and an official from online retail giant EBay speaking out, Canada Post has made a new limited time offer to the Canadian Union of Postal Workers as its labour strike continues.
Canada Post spokesperson Jon Hamilton said the deal offered Wednesday afternoon is a four-year, $650-million proposal with annual wage increases of two per cent.
"We respond to all the issues that the union has been putting forward," Hamilton said.
The deal also includes signing bonuses of up to $1,000, new job security provisions for both rural and suburban carriers and a new health and safety fund.
"Hopefully we can get a deal done and get back to normal operations as quickly as possible because the holiday rush is on our heels," he said.
In response, CUPW says it is currently reviewing the deal.
As of Wednesday morning, Canada Post reported its largest backlog ever at its Mississauga Gateway plant, at 260 trailers waiting to be unloaded.
The Ontario plant is the Crown corporation's biggest in the country and CUPW Toronto President Megan Whitfield said earlier in the day it would take at least two weeks to clear the backlog.
"If not three weeks," she said. "Those trailers have to be cleared and all the other ones that were backed up and sent away."
Staff at the Gateway facility got back to work Wednesday after striking on Tuesday, when Canada Post suspended its service-delivery guarantee.
Whitfield said 100 trailers could be processed by the weekend.
When it comes to the importance of the Gateway facility, it's one of the subjects where both sides agree, as rotating strikes have now entered a fourth week.
"This isn't a normal situation," Hamilton said. "Shutting down a facility like Gateway, that is almost like an e-commerce power hub for the country has a huge impact."
Wednesday's backlogged trailers don't include those that customers have been waiting to bring in for dropoffs or items that have already been offloaded and still have to be processed.
Ebay's general manager of Canada and Latin America operations, Andrea Stairs, said she wanted the federal government to legislate an end to the dispute.
She said quick action is needed to ensure retailers don't lose out on Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales.
"We don't seem to be any closer to a solution, so I think now is the time given the time of year going into the holiday season that we start to be more active in bringing an end to this current labour dispute," she told the Canadian Press.
A spokesperon for Canada's Minister of Employment Patty Hadju told NEWSTALK 1010 there is no update after the Prime Minister said last week the government is considering all possibilities.
It isn't clear how many of the packages include cannabis deliveries.
The previous backlog record was 220, reached last year during Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
But Hamilton points out when that was cleared, their facilities were operating at full levels.
With files from the Canadian Press