Prospect of Mail Strike looms for early July

The Canada Post building could be
behind picket lines as early as July 2nd
as labour troubles loom

It's been a while since home delivery of mail was suspended due to a postal strike or lock out, but the days of labour unrest at Canada Post seem to be heating up once again, with July 2nd set to be a pivotal day in the current discussions.

CUPW, the union representing postal workers will be in a position at that time to go out on strike, while also expressing concerns that employer Canada Post may be planning to lock out its membership when that deadline date arrives.

A number of issues have marked recent discussions between CUPW and Canada Post, with job security, pension concerns and pay equity between rural and urban employees among the main flash points in negotiations.

Postal worker held strike votes earlier this month to provide guidance to their leadership as the deadline looms. The two sides had been involved in conciliation talks earlier this month, but reports note that both sides were still far apart on their major differences when that process came to an end on June 13th.

A CUPW advisory for its membership outlines that a 21 day cooling off period is now in place, with July 2nd at 12:01 AM the time when either a lock out, or any strike activity could commence.

For its part, Canada Post has not provided much in the way of information for customers on the nature of those negotiations, or if a service interruption is something that mail service users should be preparing for.

With an eye on tax payment deadlines coming up in July, some municipalities in southern British Columbia have already begun to warn their residents to be prepared to make alternative measures other than the mail to make their payments this year.

On Tuesday, the City of Victoria advised its residents that the deadline for payment by mail was June 23rd, seeking to avoid having any residents payments trapped in any possible shutdown.

So far the City of Prince Rupert has not offered up similar guidance to residents of the North Coast. The deadline for payment of property taxes in Prince Rupert is July 4th.

Some background on the potential disruption can be found below.

Canadian Postal workers could soon be on strike
Canada Post warns biggest customers to prepare for service disruption
Possible mail disruption triggers warning about paying property taxes early
Mail disruption feared as Canada Post lockout looms


More notes on Labour issues on the North Coast can be found on our archive page.