By Tommy Osborne

Canada Post Strike

Canada Post temporarily laying off striking workers

Nov 28, 2024 | 3:52 PM

PRINCE GEORGE – In a move described as unprecedented, Canada Post announced it is temporarily laying off its striking workers amid a strike that seems to be nowhere close to resolving.

“I’ve heard it called a scare tactic, so I guess we can use that term. It doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. I don’t understand why they would do something like that and I haven’t seen it in my time at Canada Post,” said President of CUPW Local 812 Rick Harris.

“Morale is still good. We know what’s going on and we want to negotiate a contract,” Harris continued.

Labour and Employment Lawyers believe laying off striking workers will likely be met with legal pushback from the Union, which represents more than 55,000 workers. Ottawa has suspended federal mediation in the dispute that has been gripping the nation with the holidays coming up.

“The negotiators are ready to go back to the table as soon as Canada Post is, and we want to negotiate a contract,” Harris said.

Timberwolves Basketball

Milan Pasquale making a name for himself on the court at UNBC

2h ago

Rustad blasts Eby

"It's disgusting:" John Rustad blasts Premier David Eby

4h ago

Canada Post Strike

Canada Post temporarily laying off striking workers

4h ago

Both sides remain far apart on key issues, but Harris says the Union’s demands remain the same.

“We’re still talking about wage that is in line with the cost of living. We’re talking about health and safety to our RSMCs and our letter carriers, and we’re talking about not messing around with a pension that is, a very healthy pension,” he said.

“A lot of people may think that CUPW doesn’t want weekend delivery, and that’s just not the case. We do want weekend delivery. As a matter of fact, there are two provisions right now in our collective agreement that allows for weekend delivery. What the corporation wants is to do it with part time workers and very low pay. So they want to take advantage of that,” he continued.

Local news. Delivered. Free. Subscribe to our daily news wrap and get our top local stories delivered to your inbox every evening.