Mediation between Canada Post and CUPW has been temporarily suspended by the special federal mediator.
This was announced by Steven MacKinnon, federal minister of labour and seniors, in a post on X today.
“After several intensive days of negotiation, his assessment is that parties remain too far apart on critical issues for mediation to be successful at this time,” he continued in the post.
There were about 30 people on the picket line this morning around 11 a.m. at the Guelph mail depot at 250 Woodlawn Rd. W. People were sporting signs that read “CUPW LOCAL 546 ON STRIKE.” Some donned their Canada Post safety jackets and others wore slush pants to try and keep warm.
“And all along, you know, workers and even these people would love to be delivering and doing Santa letters,” said Remegius Cheeke, CUPW local 546 president, referring to those on the picket line.
The picketers do not want to disrupt people’s lives but they would like to have a contract, he said.
There hasn’t been conversations around what the holidays could look like for picketers and pay cycles haven’t kicked in for everyone yet since the picket has been going for just over a week now, said Cheeke.
“But I think people really understand that their job is at stake here,” said Cheeke. The Crown corporation wants to emulate Amazon and a lot of Amazon's workforce is gigifed, he said. “And that's going to mean, the corporation wants you know, lesser pensions, lower wages for new people, multi-tier benefit programs, which the union's not going to agree to,” he continued.
A multi-tier benefit program would be contributing a higher amount and to qualify for it would mean more working hours.
About 53 per cent of the workers who work at the mail depot on Woodlawn Road work routes that are 11 to 12 hours, said Cheeke. The Crown corporation would want this to stop, since those overtime hours could be made up and worked by casual employees, he continued.
If the strike goes on longer Cheeke thinks there is a possibility the government might step in.
Cheeke has heard from employees who have worked for Canada Post for under 10 years and for some their rent is half of their income. “It's just brutal for people who are living on their own, who are young, that's for sure,” he said.
"No doubt, our wages have to come up par with ... to cover the cost of living over the last four years," said Cheeke.
The union is pushing the Crown corporation to restart check-ins for older adults. It was something the post office used to do in the 60s or early 70s, said Cheeke. He isn’t sure what the check-ins would look like. “I mean, if you talk to letter carriers, they know all the elderly people, and the elderly people come out to speak to the letter carriers everyday,” he said.
