ROTATING STRIKE HITS P.E.I.
Unionized staff members have been without a new contract for about two years
Unionized staff members at Canada Post have been without a new contract for about two years
No mail was delivered in P.E.I. on Wednesday as Canada Post staffers hit the streets as part of a rotating strike.
About 11 Canada Post workers picketed in front of the outlet at the corner of Queen and Kent streets in Charlottetown, including Rick Gauthier, a local shop steward and former president of the local Charlottetown union.
“We’re just standing up for our rights. Hopefully we’ll get a good contract,” said Gauthier.
“We don’t really want to go on strike, but if we have to, to keep good jobs for our workers. And, it’s not just us. It’s good jobs for everybody around the country because it’s kind of a trickle-down effect. If we stand up to Canada Post, maybe somebody else will stand up to another company and keep their good jobs.”
The workers have been without a new contract for about two years. Gauthier said the most recent offer is 1.5 per cent raises over the next four years, “which is fine, except the cost of living is over two (per cent). So, we’re really going backwards with wages, which most people don’t understand.”
According to Pearl Gillis-Palmer, president of the Charlottetown Local of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers, a key issue of the strike involves working conditions for rural and suburban mail carriers.
“Canada Post is trying to change the job security of the urban postal worker and the rural postal worker,” Gillis-Palmer said.
“The way they want to do it now is, if you’re under 10 years with Canada Post and you’re a rural and suburban mail carrier, then you have no job security.”
Gillis-Palmer also said forced overtime is a reality for many rural mail carriers, due to increasingly larger routes designed by the crown corporation. She said mail carriers are required to complete their routes during their shift, even if it takes them past their scheduled hours.
Out of roughly 200 members of the Charlottetown Local, 55 are rural mail carriers.
In a media statement released on Wednesday, Canada Post said the federal government has appointed a special mediator to help reach a settlement in the negotiations.
Canada Post spokesperson Jon Hamilton said the employer has offered increased wages, improvements to job security and benefits. He said the crown corporation has not asked for concessions from the union.
Workers in Charlottetown also picketed at the Canada Post plant on Maple Avenue near the airport throughout the day Wednesday.
Gauthier said he didn’t know if workers would be back on the picket line today.
Nationally, the union has been holding rotating, one-day strikes in cities throughout the country since Oct. 21.
“It’s one day at a time,” he said. Federal Old Age Security, Canada Pension Plan, student loan and social assistance cheques will still be delivered in the midst of the strike.
“Nobody will be without them that needs them, hopefully,” Gauthier said, adding that people were encouraging as they passed by the demonstration.
“They know that there is an assault on, not so much labour, but an assault on good-paying jobs. Canada Post wants to pull in more part-timers and more temporaries, so they don’t have to pay them benefits. And, we’re trying to say we want more secure jobs.”
“We’re just standing up for our rights. Hopefully we’ll get a good contract. We don’t really want to go on strike, but if we have to, to keep good jobs for our workers. And, it’s not just us. It’s good jobs for everybody around the country because it’s kind of a trickle-down effect. If we stand up to Canada Post, maybe somebody else will stand up to another company and keep their good jobs.” Rick Gauthier