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Canada Post on strike in Parksville

CUPW members began striking at 6:30 a.m. on Oct. 31
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Parksville Canada Post employees and members of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers’, Sally-Anne Keery, left, Yoko Wakamura and Ardith Moris strike outside of the Canada Post office in Parksville. - Karly Blats photo

Parksville Canada Post employees and Canadian Union of Postal Workers’ (CUPW) went on strike Oct. 31 at 6:30 a.m.

The rotating strikes are affecting 400 postal workers and Canada Post outlets in Parksville, Port Alberni, Courtenay, Campbell River and Nanaimo on Vancouver Island.

This means mail and parcels will not be delivered or picked up in the impacted areas. Canada Post continues to operate across the rest of Canada.

The Canadian Union of Postal Workers is calling a national overtime ban for both of its major bargaining units at Canada Post. Postal workers, no matter what their job at Canada Post, will not work more than an eight-hour day and not more than a 40-hour week, states a CUPW press release.

“We’ve had it. Overburdening, overtime and overwork are all major issues in this round of bargaining. Until Canada Post negotiators’ address it, we can solve it for ourselves in the meantime,” said CUPW national president Mike Palecek in the release. “This is a health and safety issue rooted in poor staffing. We refuse to be injured any longer by a management team that cares more about the bottom line than sky-rocketing injury rates.”

Postal workers also continue to fight for better wages.

“We will stay on the picket line as well as the bargaining table until we reach fair agreements for all our workers,” Palecek said.

CUPW members are still without agreements for the Urban Postal Operations and Rural and Suburban Mail Carriers bargaining unit after nearly a year of negotiations.

Canada Post said in a press release that “we remain committed to arriving at a negotiated settlement with CUPW, while making every effort to minimize the impact of any disruption on the customers we serve.”

— News staff/ with files from Susie Quinn



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