Canadian postal workers voted overwhelmingly in favour of strike action.
Strike votes were held at local sites across the country between Aug. 7 and Sept. 9, with 93.8 per cent of urban postal operations workers and 95.9 per cent of rural and suburban mail carriers voting to walk out if an agreement can’t be reached with Canada Post.
Depending on how the negotiations unfold, labour action could begin as early as Sept. 26.
The sticking point for the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) is how postal workers in urban and rural areas get paid.
Negotiations began in November 2017, with mediated talks starting in January. The collective agreement for about 8,0000 rural and suburban letter carriers expired Dec. 31, 2017, while the collective agreement for the urban postal operations unit, which has 42,000 members, expired Jan. 31, 2018.
Urban letter carriers are paid by the hour, while their rural counterparts are paid based on the size of their route. In short, that means they are paid less than the urban carriers who are paid hourly.
Should a labour action happen, Barrhead Leader subscribers can pick up their papers at our office at 5015-51 Street, or at a number of convenient locations throughout out our readership area.
A labour disruption would only impact our rural subscribers, as those in the Town of Barrhead are now delivered by carriers.
For more information on where to pick up your leader, pending disruption of mail delivery, please refer to our ad on page 21A or www.barrheadleader.com.
