Now is the time to make provisions for alternate shipping carrier into Canada.

The Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) gave a 72-hour strike notice yesterday, which will begin at 11:59 EDT on Thursday, June 2 if the Canada Post does not submit to certain provisions demanded by the CUPW.

This type of notice is legally required of an intention to strike.

According to Post & Parcel, the 48,000 CUPW members are seeking a 3.3 percent pay rise to be put in effect in February 2011; the Canada Post is offering union members 1.9 percent. In the subsequent three years, union members are requiring a 2.75 percent increase in pay each year. The Canada Post is offering a 1.9 percent hike for the first and second year, with a 2 percent increase in the third year.

The CUPW is unwilling to negotiate on the final contract submitted to the Canada Post, and that “it can only be accepted as a whole.”

Denis Lemelin, CUPW national president, says the union is willing to negotiate terms, “right up to the strike deadline.”

If acceptable terms are not created by the strike’s witching hour, all mail and parcels will not be delivered; this includes all mail received from the United States. If the strike does happen, volunteers have been put in place by a separate agreement between the CUPW and Canada Post to ensure delivery of social welfare and pension checks.

Terms of the revised Canada Post contract offer include job security, the aforementioned pay increases and up to seven weeks paid vacation for CUPW members that qualify. This offer comes despite a 17 percent reduction in mail volume since 2006, as well as a $3.2 billion pension deficit.