There will be a lot of empty mailboxes across Canada today.
Threatened by an 8 a.m. lockout, Canadian Union of Postal Workers opted instead to take national strike action affecting 55,000 members effective 12:01 a.m. this morning.
In Sudbury, postal workers lined up outside of the Canada Post offices on Lasalle Boulevard for what Canadian Union of Postal Workers Local 612 president Charlene Bradley described as a 24/7 picket line.
Other picket lines were set up in Espanola, Little Current and Gore Bay on Friday, while others will be set up in Val Caron and Chelmsford so members have a place to go closer to home.
Members launched their picket line on Lasalle Boulevard at midnight.
“We had a cold night, we had a little fire going, but we stuck it out,” Bradley said.
“Unfortunately, it’s a really bad time of the year because we have our struggles, but we care about the public, we care about Christmas, delivering the mail and our jobs.”
Chief concerns in their collective bargaining remain cost of living increases, corporate vehicles for rural/suburban carriers, work/life balance, pensions and health and safety issues.
“I hope we can get back to work soon and do the job we love to do and make everyone’s Christmas a good Christmas,” Bradley said. “This isn’t where we want to be, but this is unfortunately where we have to be.”
National strike action was a somewhat surprising outcome, she said, noting that they’d typically do rolling strikes, but with a lockout threatened, their hands were tied.
“Members were at risk on the floor, so we couldn’t risk that,” she said. “They were cancelling our collective agreement, leaving our workers at risk for discipline and anything they could imagine; layoffs.”
Rather than punt the matter to arbitration, she said she hopes Canada Post sees the merit in open negotiations with the union.
“We support the fact that we need a negotiated collective agreement, for us today and our members in the future,” she said. “The major issues they’re not budging on, and they’re really looking for it to go to an arbitrator.”
A media release by Canadian Union of Postal Workers outlines numerous unresolved issues they’d like addressed in negotiations.
A prior release issued when they posted 72 hours’ notice of strike action on Tuesday notes they’d been bargaining for almost a year to no avail.
“When unionized workers make gains, it lifts up all communities, bringing widespread benefits,” CUPW national president Jan SImpson said in the release. “We are committed to negotiating the best collective agreements possible for our members while also protecting the valued and cherished public postal service.”
A Canada Post media release issued today outlined impacts to Canadians.
“Mail and parcels will not be processed or delivered for the duration of the national strike, and some post offices will be closed,” they noted. “Service guarantees will be impacted for items already in the postal network. No new items will be accepted until the national disruption is over.”
Tyler Clarke covers city hall and political affairs for Sudbury.com.
