Mail to begin moving as CUPW members shift to rotating strikes

Packages stuck within the Canada Post system will once again be on the move as mail carriers shift to rotating strikes.

The Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) announced Thursday that as of 6 am local time on Oct. 11, the union will move from a nationwide strike to rotating strikes.

“This will start mail and parcels moving, while continuing our struggle for good collective agreements and a strong public postal service,” wrote CUPW.

“We did not take the decision to move to a nationwide strike lightly. Postal workers would much rather have new collective agreements and be delivering mail instead of taking strike action.”

The union stated that it will inform locals who will be rotating out closer to the time when they will take action.

The latest nationwide strike began at the end of September after the federal government approved the Crown corporation to make several changes, including the conversion of the remaining 4 million door-to-door addresses to community mailboxes.

“Yet, we could not stand by as the government announced its plans to allow Canada Post to gut our postal service and slash thousands of our jobs,” added CUPW.

“Contract after contract, this employer has sought to chip away at postal services, worker rights and good jobs, and its latest offers are an outright attack on public service. The government’s announcement on September 25th also emboldened Canada Post to continue making a mockery of the bargaining process.”

In the days following the federal government’s announcement, the corporation presented its latest offers to the union, which the union claims were worse than the offers rejected in a vote back in August.

“We waited 45 days for offers that are worse than what we rejected in August,” added the union.

“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?”

According to the corporation, the latest offers are within what Canada Post can afford while maintaining “good jobs and benefits for employees over the long-term.”

A description of the latest offers can be found online at this link.