Canada Post Strike Expands

In yesterday’s blog, we discussed how the recent Canada Post strike would impact small businesses throughout the country. Many of these businesses ship packages to their customers and, of course, will not be able to do so if the people who generally deliver those packages are currently walking picket lines.

There is also the inability to sent hard copies of invoices or receive payments by cheque when postal workers are on strike. And this has been the case since last Thursday, when Canada Post began its first “rotating strike” in Winnipeg – the location of one of its newest facilities.

Today, The Canadian Press reports that Moncton, New Brunswick and Victoria, British Columbia have become the two latest Canadian cities to be hit by the rotating strikes. These strikes – lasting 24 hours and bound to impact every major city in the nation – has put thousands of employees on pickets lines.

And while the Canadian Union of Postal Workers have told their members that some positive moves have come out of their negotiations with management, there have also been some disappointments during the talks. Apparently, a recent proposal from union negotiators has been rejected.

One of the positives is that Canada Post has “backed away” from its intention to create more part-time jobs to deal with the decline in mail volumes. Said a Crown corporation representative: “With the hope that (the union) would start to address the issues facing the postal system (as) Canada Post has offered to withdraw this key proposal.”

One of the negatives is that Canada Post feels that some of the union’s requests are simply too costly. According to spokesman Jon Hamilton, “It’s just too expensive and still doesn’t help us get anywhere near where we need to be in terms of addressing the challenges facing Canada Post.”

Among those challenges are “declining mail volumes, increasing competition and electronic substitutions for traditional mail.” Without addressing these issues, it appears as if the CUPW’s proposals cannot be agreed upon. CUPW contends, however, that there are problems with how mail is being processed, as well as job cuts that impact local communities.