The President of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers Union Local 8-1-6 in Quesnel says they will be in a legal position to serve 72-hour strike notice as early as tonight (Thursday) at 9 o’clock Pacific time.
Echo Law says they have been at the negotiating table since January of 2023 and they haven’t made a lot of progress.
She says it’s frustrating because they’re not addressing health and safety issues, pension issues and a fair wage increase.
“We’re just looking to keep up with inflation and we’re already behind. There hasn’t been a decent wage increase in probably 14 years. Canada Post, their top executives, are still giving themselves very large raises and very large bonuses every year, and it’s based on our work and the wear and tear of our bodies.”
Law says the union is still looking at the latest offer from Canada Post, but she says she is not optimistic.
She says they are frustrated because they just want some fair negotiating and for the collective bargaining process to take its’ course, but she feels the company is just waiting for the government to step in and for arbitration to take place.
Law says they don’t want to hurt their customers in the event of a strike.
“What we did want to let people know is that all socio-economic cheques, the union agrees to deliver those so we’re not impacting anybody financially. That would include pension cheques and income assistance, disability, child tax cheques. So what happens on those days is volunteers will come in and make sure those cheques are still delivered.”
There are 45 unionized postal workers in Quesnel.
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