Canada Post has issued what it calls a “time-limited” contract offer to its employees in hopes of ending rotating strikes that have created a historic backlog of undelivered parcels.

The offer came just hours after online sales and auctioning giant eBay called on the federal government to legislate an end to the Canada Post contract dispute.

The Crown corporation’s four-year offer, provided to The Canadian Press, includes annual two-per-cent wage hikes, plus signing bonuses of up to $1,000 per employee.

The $650-million proposal also includes new job-security provisions, including for rural and suburban carriers who have complained about precarious employment, and a $10-million health-and-safety fund.

But Canada Post says it’s only affordable if it can be agreed to before the holiday shopping rush, so it has imposed a deadline of Saturday, Nov. 17 for Canadian Union of Postal Workers members to accept the deal.

Earlier eBay warned that quick action is needed to ensure retailers don’t lose out on Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales.

While those businesses have adapted as best they can to the strikes that began Oct. 22, Andrea Stairs says in a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that the adjustments retailers have made so far to avoid delivery disruptions are unsustainable.

Meanwhile, Canada Post says it is now facing an unprecedented backlog of shipments, largely as a result of strikes at its major sorting plants in Vancouver and particularly Toronto.

A spokesman for the Crown corporation says that, as of this morning, there were more than 260 trailers filled with parcels waiting to be unloaded at its Gateway processing plant in Toronto – and that number is expected to rise quickly.

The prime minister warned last week that his government would look at all options to end the labour dispute if there is no significant progress in Canada Post’s contract talks with the Canadian Union of Postal Workers.