THUNDER BAY – Brendon Roy says the last place he and his fellow postal workers want to be is marching on a picket line.
But he says they have little choice.
Roy, the vice-president of Canadian Union of Postal Workers Local 620, said the goal of the series of one-day rotating strikes, which arrived in Thunder Bay on Monday morning, is to put pressure on Canada Post to put an end to a 10-month-long labour dispute, their contract having expired at the end of 2017.
“We’ve had all this time for the two parties to sit down and negotiate and Canada Post simply won’t negotiate in good faith with us,” said Roy, walking the line outside the company’s Alloy Drive sorting facility.
“It’s very frustrating because we all knew, everyone here on this line has known that this contract had expired and that this deal needed to be dealt with in a timely fashion and it simply hasn’t been because Canada Post won’t move on key issues about health and safety.”
Workers, who are also fighting for better wages, are concerned about the growing number of parcels and packages being delivered in the era of Internet commerce, which is taking a toll on their physical well-being.
Joanne Nowosad, president of local 620, said workers were left with no choice but to walk off the job, if only for a single day.
“In the last four years, we’ve had nearly 30,000 injuries. Fifteen-thousand of them have been debilitating and it’s ridiculous and it’s unacceptable to us,” Nowosad said, having worked the overnight shift on the picket line.
“Letter carriers have become overburdened. They’re forced to work overtime, 10 to 12 hours a day. Canada Post has not adapted properly to the increase in parcels. We still process eight-million pieces of letter mail every day, plus the parcels. Every day looks like Christmas in the plant.”
Roy said CUPW employees are trying to make a statement to Canada Post, without having a major impact on every day Canadians. That’s why they chose rotating strikes, which have also been held in Edmonton, Toronto, Vancouver and Winnipeg since being implemented last week.
“We’re hoping it’s a one-time thing and Canada Post gets the message clearly that we’re willing to what it takes to get the job done. It’s unexpected when the strikes will happen. We’re trying to minimize the impact to the community as much as possible,” he said.
“There will be disruptions, but that’s one of the reasons we’re having these rotating strikes. You won’t see your carrier door-to-door for one day, but then you’ll see your service return the next day. And we’ll do this on and off again as need be to promote a fair resolution to this conflict.”
Labour Minister Patty Hajdu last week announced Morton Mitchnick has been appointed as a special mediator, hoping to end the dispute as soon as possible.
“There are still a number of challenging issues that both parties have to work through, and having sometimes a fresh set of eyes on a challenging problem like that will help the parties to continue to look for creative solutions,” the Thunder Bay cabinet minister told the Canadian Press last week.
