PRINCE GEORGE – “Power of the people power!”
That was the mantra at Station “B” on 15th Avenue over the lunch hour Tuesday. It was a boisterous crowd of postal workers, their friends and family, and the negotiations have become a war of words.
“If wages were a sticking point, we’ve just made another offer which lowered the wages down over the four-year terms,” says Rick Harris, President of CUPW, Local 821. “The weekend delivery. I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again. We already have provisions in our collective agreement which the corporation put in back in ’18 for weekend delivery. So if they’re saying that there is nothing for weekend delivery, that’s just not the case. We have two provisions for it.”
Sure, says Canada Post, there have been concessions. But the union is mired in the past.
“We have throughout these negotiations, tried to bring about the kind of flexibility that would allow us to provide that and grow our parcel business,” says Jon Hamilton, Spokesperson for Canada Post. “But unfortunately, CUPW has not supported that and continues to, you know, look to the past and try and entrench some of that and we just can’t agree to that.”
He says Canada Post’s parcel delivery service has declined and that can’t be maintained for the next four years. And the corporation has a bleak message for customers.
“We do not want to lead people to believe that we are any closer to a resolution. This isn’t a case where we can just throw money at this, accept these changes that would handcuff us rather than provide the flexibility we need going forward. And it’s unfortunate because we would like nothing better than to get our people back to work.”
And the striking postal workers have a message for the federal government.
“Not a simple forced back-to-work situation,” says Harris. “We’d like to see the Labour Minister and the Prime Minister of Canada go to Canada Post Corporation and force them to negotiate in good faith.”
Back at Station “B”, Monday’s rally was about friends and family, with picketers, earning just over $50 a day in strike pay.
“Oh yeah, we’re all hurting there. There’s nobody here going to Mexico for Christmas, I can tell you that right now. And maybe even putting the turkey on the table will be hurt.”
