Canadian Union of Postal Workers moves to rotating strikes as of Oct. 11

By David Hartwig

The Canadian Union of Postal Workers transitioned from a nationwide strike that began Sept. 25 to rotating strikes beginning Oct. 11.

Canadian Union of Postal Workers president Jan Simpson said in an Oct. 14 statement that the move to rotating strikes adds to other strategies the union has used in this round of bargaining, including a national overtime ban and a ban on the delivery of unaddressed direct mail.

“Our decision to move to rotating strikes also reflects our commitment to the public, charities, businesses, and our members,” Simpson said. “Rotating strikes may slightly delay the mail and parcels, but they keep them moving. They also reduce hardship on postal workers, while maintaining pressure on Canada Post and the Government to get back to bargaining.”

Simpson added that the locations, dates, times and durations of the strikes will not be announced in advance. Canada Post provides a compilation of past and current strike locations online at www.canadapost.ca/update.

In an Oct. 10 press release, Canada Post said that all service guarantees will be suspended during the rotating strikes. “Shutting down and restarting parts of our integrated national network with rotating strikes has always challenged our ability to provide reliable service to customers,” Canada Post explained.

The rotating strikes come just over a week after Canada Post presented new offers to the union. In a press release announcing the new offers, Canada Post said key provisions from the May 28 final offers have been maintained and that changes to the delivery model have been proposed.

Canada Post said the existing “job security for life” provision cannot be maintained for some employees and said that removing a provision protecting 493 corporate post offices from closure will provide more flexibility.

Simpson responded: “We waited 45 days for offers that are worse than what we rejected in August. Canada Post must have known that there is no way we can accept these and is clearly wasting even more time. So why did they bother?”

Simpson added: “Virtually everything from their May offers remains the same, but there are some new rollbacks including the removal of job security, a workforce adjustment zone of 60km for restructure, and straight job cuts.”

Canada Post presented these new global offers to the union following a ban on the delivery of unaddressed direct mail (what Canada Post calls Neighbourhood Mail) starting Sept. 15.

Canada Post previously presented offers to the union May 28, and these were rejected in a vote ending Aug. 1.

Canada Post provides details of its offers to the union online at canadapost.ca/offers, and provides negotiation updates online at www.canadapost.ca/update. The latest news from the Canadian Union of Postal Workers can be found online at www.cupw.ca/en/news---events.

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