The Canadian Union of Postal Workers and Canada Post announced this morning they have agreed on a 30-day extension to avoid an employee lockout or strike.

CUPW officials offered Canada Post the extension with the purpose of entering into "intensive negotiations" with the Crown corporation accepting the offer. Although, if no settlement has been reached within the 30-day period, both sides will enter into binding arbitration.

The extension will now present the opportunity for both parties to recollect their ideas and proposals before going back to the negotiating table. This means residents of West Central Saskatchewan will not have to worry about mail being suspended until early August as long as the truce stands.

But, the two sides are far apart on many views pertaining to contract discussions despite the tentative truce. The main problem has been finding the middle ground for employee pension plans during negotiation discussions. Other topics which have been reviewed include work hours and pay.

Initially, the strategy for Canada Post was to lockout its 50,000 unionized workers starting on Monday.

Saskatchewan residents can now breathe a sigh of relief as they will have more time to prepare for a postal work disruption in the case the two parties cannot agree on a contract before early August.