CANADA POST STRIKES HIT TORONTO AND SOUTHERN ONTARIO

The Canada Post rotating strikes have hit the country’s largest processing centre in Toronto for a second time in three weeks as workers in 11 other southern Ontario communities walked off the job just after midnight. The Canadian Union of Postal Workers says 4,500 Canada Post employees joined picket lines in Toronto at 7 p.m. Tuesday. CUPW says that was before workers in Chatham, Clinton, Georgetown, Milton, Orangeville, Port Hope, Stratford, Strathroy, Tillsonburg, Wingham and Woodstock walked off the job early Wednesday. Canada Post says in a statement that the union continues to escalate their strike activity, adding more communities each day and shutting down major processing centres for extended periods. Canada Post says there is no indication when that strike will end, adding it will worsen backlogs in mail or parcel deliveries across the country. The union and the postal service have been unable to reach new collective agreements for two bargaining units after 10 months of negotiations.