E-commerce giant urges businesses to write PM over Canada Post dispute

OTTAWA – One of the country's biggest e-commerce companies is urging businesses to call for a legislated end to the labour dispute at Canada Post.

The letter-writing campaign launched by eBay comes as contract negotiations between the Crown agency and its biggest union stretch into overtime.

Small and medium-sized online sellers have been scrambling to find alternative delivery arrangements ever since the Canadian Union of Postal Workers issued a 72-hour strike notice last week.

Talks continued over the weekend with the aid of a special mediator and threatened job action by the union's 51,000 members was halted today under a 24-hour extension aimed at reaching a last-minute agreement.

But Andrea Stairs, eBay Canada's managing director, says if a contract settlement can't be reached, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau should at the very least send a signal that he's prepared to force an end to the impasse.

Canada Post has been bargaining with its employees for nine months, but both sides were far apart as of late last week over key issues of pension reform and pay scales for rural postal workers.