MONTREAL — As they head into their third week on strike, morale of members of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers picketing at hundreds of Canada Post locations across the country is high.
“On the line here, people talk a lot about respect. We’ve been humiliated repeatedly by special laws and forced back to work,” CUPW shop steward Guillaume Brodeur told the Militant at Montreal’s Chabanel depot. “Yes, we need the raises, but people aren’t talking about that as much. They’re ready to be out for weeks. We were making jokes this morning about going until Christmas. We don’t want that, but we’ll go back when we have a fair and equitable agreement.”
The federal government has intervened to order postal workers back to work in numerous strikes in the past, derailing fights aimed at protecting jobs, services and wages. While Ottawa has used special legislation to send rail and port workers back to work this year, Labor Minister Steven MacKinnon told the press the government’s plan is to promote “intensive mediation” to “bridge the gap between the parties.”
The Canadian Federation of Independent Businesses demands the federal government intervene now to end the strike, claiming small business owners depend on Canada Post’s comparatively more affordable services.
Workers’ hourly starting wage is now 22.68 Canadian dollars per hour ($16). “That’s only a few cents different from the starting wage when I began 19 years ago,” striker Ian Fournier told the Militant. The union is demanding a 24% wage raise over four years. The employer is offering just 11.5%.
“For us, different conditions and wages for new employees is a red line we will not cross,” Brodeur said. The boss’s plan is for new hires to be put on a “flexible” weekend part-time schedule, to get even lower wages and fewer benefits than current employees.
Employers say these cost-saving steps are needed to compete with Amazon and other competitors.
“For small faraway communities, Canada Post is essential,” Brodeur said. “It can cost three or four times more to get your medicine or parcels from other delivery services.”
“And workers at Amazon in Laval [near Montreal] are trying to get a first contract, now that they won union recognition,” striker Hugo Charette said. “The other delivery services are watching what happens at Canada Post. We can drag the standards upward.”
“We go to every door in the community,” he said. “There are people who wait for us every day at the same time. If their mailbox is full, we know something’s wrong.” Fournier added, “I’ve called ambulances a number of times for people on my route.”
Supportive honks from drivers in cars and trucks are constant on the picket line. Numerous union delegations and other workers have joined the pickets in solidarity.
Jeff Acolatse, a digital layout and printing worker, visited pickets at the St. Lawrence central sorting station. “It was a great experience,” he told the Militant. “The employees work hard as individuals and they do their best to make ends meet. But there’s just too much inflation.”
Drop by a picket line near you!