Mail was not delivered in Thompson Nov. 16 as Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) members here took part in rotating strikes as part of ongoing contract negotiations with Canada Post.
CUPW locals were also on strike that day in Brandon, Dauphin, Flin Flon, The Pas, Portage la Prairie and in Winnipeg, as well as in Edmonton, Fundy and Moncton, New Brunswick, and Orangeville, Port Hope and Scarborough in Ontario.
CUPW members in Thompson were out on the picket line outside the post office on Selkirk Avenue beginning at 6 a.m. in bitterly cold temperatures approaching -30 Celsius.
Canada Post put forth a time-limited offer to postal workers Nov. 14 that includes pay increases of two per cent a year as well as a signing bonus of up to $1,000 and the establishment of a $10 million health and safety fund. The offer will expire at 11:59 p.m. Nov. 17.
“The time limit is necessary as this offer is only affordable if we can clear the backlogs caused by the union's strike activity and effectively deliver the quickly arriving massive Black Friday and Cyber Monday volumes,” said a Canada Post press release.
The company says it has 260 trailers of parcels and packages waiting to be unloaded at its Gateway parcel processing plant in Toronto and 100 trailers waiting to be unloaded in Vancouver.
“These offers simply aren’t good enough, but we remain at the bargaining table and will continue to negotiate with Canada Post,” said CUPW national president Mike Palecek in a Nov. 15 press release.
The union says that Canada Post employees have an injury rate 5.4 times as high as the average for other federal employees.
“We understand that our customers are frustrated; we are also frustrated,” Palecek said. “Postal workers are hardworking, caring people who take great pride in serving the public. But we cannot go back to work at the busiest time of the year without fixing the issues that keep us injured and overworked.”
