Striking postal workers in Sault Ste. Marie were lined up along Bay Street Tuesday, as both their union and their employer remain miles apart on a number of ongoing labour issues.
About 55,000 employees represented by the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) walked off the job this past Friday, halting Canada Post deliveries across the country as the busy holiday season kicks off.
“Inclement weather doesn’t bother us, hard work doesn’t bother us — we’re willing to do it, and we’ve been doing it all along,” said CUPW Local 600 President Ken Sheaves, whose union represents approximately 135 workers locally.
“We’re a proud group. We just want to be compensated fairly, that’s all.”
The union is calling for a cumulative wage hike of 24 per cent over four years, while Canada Post has offered an 11.5 per cent increase. Job security, benefits and contract work for parcel delivery on weekends all continue to remain wedge issues between the two parties.
Sheaves says Canada Post is “misleading the public,” by claiming that labour costs have resulted in billions of dollars lost. The union president believes those billions of dollars have instead been spent on “strategic investments,” such as fleets of new vehicles and a $470-million zero-carbon Canada Post facility that opened in Scarborough, Ont. last year.
“That’s where the money went — it’s not in labour. Our labour costs have gone down since 2018,” he said, adding that non-labour spending has increased over that same period.
Sault Ste. Marie and District Labour Council President Michele McCleave-Kennedy says pickets like the one in the Sault on Tuesday are important when it comes to "employers overriding contracts and not being able to negotiate in good faith."
“The fact that this strike is happening is more because of corporate greed,” she told SooToday. “These people are seeing their pensions as well as their benefits overridden, which should not happen.
“It’s very important that we, as unions, all stand together to make sure that our collective agreements are taken care of, and we have our rights upheld — and the fact that this government thinks that they can go ahead and do whatever they want in the face of corporate greed is not what we stand for, here or anywhere across the province.”
Sheaves says the employer repealed its collective agreement with the union, triggering the strike this past Friday. But he remains hopeful for some “positive signs” now that the government has appointed its top mediator to help both sides reach a new contract agreement.
“If Canada Post wants to talk and wants to hash this out and get this over with — and wants us back to work — reinstate our collective agreement. Put us back on the job,” he said.
Canada Post and the postal workers union found some consensus Tuesday following talks with a special mediator, but "a lot of ground" remains between them on the key concerns as a countrywide strike entered its fifth day.
“On smaller issues, we were able to find some progress,” said a Canada Post spokesperson during a phone interview with The Canadian Press Tuesday.
"The special mediator has helped facilitate those discussions. So we're going to continue to be at it. We're committed to getting collective agreements. We don't want arbitration," he said.
“There’s still a lot of ground to cover.”
- with files from The Canadian Press