Canadians are expected to start receiving mail again on Tuesday after Canada Post workers move from a nationwide strike to a rotating strike on Saturday morning.
The Canadian Postal Workers Union, which represents 55,000 Canada Post employees, says the fight for a fair collective bargaining agreement continues, but downgrading union status allows workers to resume their jobs and remind Canadians that a full postal service is worth fighting for.
“[With] Most of our workers are back at work and people can come out and talk to the public,” said Jim Gallant, CUPW negotiator. “The public sees the value the post office provides.”
The union and Canada Post have been trying to negotiate a new collective agreement for more than a year and a half. But this is not the union's only battle. Postal workers launched a nationwide strike two weeks ago – its second since last year – after the federal government announced sweeping changes to the Crown corporation.
Ottawa has called on Canada Post to stop home deliveries and close some rural post offices to stabilize the debtor company and ensure its survival. The Crown corporation has not made a profit since 2017. reports a loss of $1.3 billion last year. It says there that it is on track to lose $1.5 billion this yearstaying afloat thanks to a $1 billion government loan. (CUPW suggested that Canada Post is embellishing some of these figures. The company did not respond to CBC's request for comment on the statement.)
CUPW has vowed to fight Ottawa's announced Canada Post reforms and hopes Canadians will support the cause.
“[Ottawa is] I'm going to cut off his arms and legs. The service will not be what it should be. That's not what Canadians want,” Gallant said. – Canadians need to call their Member of Parliament; they need to go to their city council.”
Labor expert Rafael Gomez says the union faces a difficult task: negotiating a new collective agreement while generating public opposition to Ottawa's planned cuts.
“You have to balance it because if it's not disruptive, then there's no real cost to the employer,” said Gomez, a professor of labor relations at the University of Toronto. “If it is too disruptive, it will affect the public.
“It's a balancing act.”
Watch out for mail delays
CUPW's Gallant says the rotating strikes will delay mail delivery in some parts of Canada. He also hinted that workers could resume a nationwide strike at any time.
“Different people [will be off work] continuously over the next period of time until either we reach a collective agreement or the union decides to change our strike activity,” he said.
Still, the resumption of mail delivery is welcome news for Katherine Gallagher Morton, founder of Maplelea, a small business that sells Canadian-themed dolls online.
Next week she plans to mail out tens of thousands of printed catalogs featuring her dolls, the business's biggest holiday sales driver.
“I was thrilled,” Gallagher Morton said when she heard the news. “It makes a huge, huge difference to our company and what we can do this Christmas.”
However, she says she won't be sending a letter to her local MP asking the federal government to maintain the traditional postal service.
Gallagher Morton says she lost more than $300,000 in sales because of last year's strike, prompting her to permanently switch to private shipping for most dolls. While it still relies on Canada Post to deliver catalogs, it says it, like Ottawa, supports a scaled-down postal service.
“I'm a Canadian who pays taxes, and I think the government should act as fiscally responsible as possible,” she said. “The whole world needs to change. Times are changing and I think Canada Post needs to change its model.”
However, some rural communities that rely heavily on Canada Post fear the small operation will impact many of their residents.
Laurie Hoddinott, Mayor of McNab/Brayside, told CBC News in September it revealed that 60 per cent of its rural community, located west of Ottawa, was largely made up of older farmers who relied on home deliveries. According to her, stopping this service will create difficulties for them.
“If a senior has to walk down a lane and drive 15 kilometers on a rural winter road to get to the post office, they're not going to do that every day,” she said.
Canada Post stated that he was keeping his program this allows people with mobility issues to arrange options such as weekly home delivery.
Canada Post responds
Canada Post said in a statement Friday it welcomes the return of its employees, but warned customers of “uncertainty and instability” in service due to rotating strikes.
The Crown corporation also said it is ready to return to the negotiating table and is still waiting for a response from the union on its issue. last offer, made October 3rd..
It includes a salary increase of 13.59 percent over four years, health and pension benefits, and up to seven weeks of vacation. But the proposal also eliminates a signing bonus that the corporation says it can no longer afford.
The union representing 55,000 Canada Post workers has announced it will end its strike across Canada and move to rotating strikes starting this weekend. The Canadian Union of Postal Workers says the change will “get mail and packages moving.”
CUPW said in a statement last week that the latest proposal represented a “major step backwards”.
However, Canada Post has given no indication it plans to soften the deal and continues to support the government's plan to create a smaller postal service.
“The need to align the business with the current needs of the country to reduce dependence on taxpayer dollars becomes more pressing every day that the strike continues,” the company said in a statement.
