The president of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) local 564 covering Lindsay and Haliburton County, Doug Ford, said people waiting on government cheques will receive them in the mail after the union and Canada Post struck an emergency deal last week.
More than 55,000 Canada Post workers nationwide went on a full strike Nov. 15, shutting down the country’s postal system.
CUPW national president, Jan Simpson, noted in a media release last week the strike will affect millions of Canadians and businesses across the country. She told people to expect delays as holiday shopping season begins.
“Mail and parcels will not be processed or delivered for the duration of the national strike, and some post offices will be closed. Service guarantees will be impacted for items already in the postal network. No new items will be accepted until the national disruption is over,” the union stated Friday.
Anything in the postal network will be secured and delivered as quickly as possible on a first-in, first-out basis once operations resume, Simpson said.
Speaking to The Highlander Nov. 19, Ford said the shutdown will impact everything but government cheques.
“Canada Post has sent the cheques out to the respective post offices and there is going to be a volunteer force delivering them. CUPW is going to allow members [to cross the picket line]. It’ll just be a few members going out and doing the deliveries,” Ford said. “People will receive their cheques – but that’s it.”
Canada Post said cheques were delivered Nov. 20.
The local union president admitted he was surprised by the full strike, saying he expected rolling strikes first. This would have seen delivery in main hubs like Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal and Vancouver stopped but would have provided a reprieve for rural areas like Haliburton County.
Latest offer 11.5 per cent raise hike
He laid the blame directly at the feet of Canada Post, which said they would lock out all CUPW employees if a rolling strike was called. The union notified the employer of a rolling strike last week.
“Really, the union’s hands were tied. Nobody knows why Canada Post made their decision, but they did. We gave them a strike notice for rotating, but they decided to counter, basically saying if we rotate, they’re locking us out completely. So CUPW said ‘OK, we’ll go’,” Ford said.
He added, “When CUPW is faced with a choice where we can’t do rotating, it’s either we go, or we don’t. I know it wasn’t our first option. We didn’t want to have to go out on strike like this.”
County-based workers have maintained a morning presence in front of the Haliburton and Minden post offices since last week. Ford said that will continue.
He said strikers are united – and there seems to be support from the public, too.
“We’re dug in, we’ve made our stand and we’re sticking to it,” Ford said. “We’re hearing lots of positive messages, despite the [expected] delays.”
Workers have been without a contract since Dec. 31, 2023. Canada Post’s latest offer included annual wage increases amounting to 11.5 per cent over the next four years, while also including protections for defined benefit and pensions plans for current employees.
Ford said the contract wanted to create a two-tiered pay scale for employees, which the union is against. He also wants to hear more about Canada Post’s plans to transition to a seven-day delivery system, which the company says it needs to do to compete with companies like Amazon.
The Crown corporation has reported losses of $490 million through the first six months of 2024 and $3 billion since 2018.
Parcel delivery up in air
Minden resident Linda Borthwick said she’s concerned about gifts she’s purchased for family overseas arriving in time for Christmas. She has grandchildren in the UK and routinely uses Canada Post to mail them goodies from home.
“I’ve asked what this strike means – I’m told if the parcels were processed and sent out before [the action] then I’ll be OK, but I don’t know at this point if they have,” Borthwick said.
Since she posted items using International Parcel – which doesn’t provide any timed delivery guarantee, or tracking/delivery information – she has no idea where the parcels are. She said she posted them Nov. 8.
With the federal government thus far keeping out of negotiations, with no indication a mandate forcing strikers back to work is forthcoming, Ford is holding out hope for a negotiated contract. He said a new mediator was brought in this week.
“According to politicians, they’re not going to get involved – that is different than in the past,” Ford said. “Hopefully, this mediator can get some luck and mediate both sides to an agreement as soon as possible. Unfortunately, there’s not a lot of news right now. Everybody is keeping their cards tight to the chest.”
