“Pay the workers for the work they do!”
The battle cry of more than a dozen disgruntled rural and suburban mail carriers could be heard as they blocked contract workers from entering the Canada Post distribution centre at Hebert Road in St. Albert Wednesday morning.
It was the second day of protest after the workers received notice of pay cuts Tuesday.
Representatives from the Canadian Union of Postal Workers, including Edmonton local president Bev Ray joined 15 carriers in the chill morning air.
Ray said there have been similar problems at this particular distribution centre before and a further pay cut is unacceptable.
“Yesterday morning they were all handed individual letters, advising them that they were going to be reducing their parcel count,” she said. ”It is going to impact their yearly income … there was no notice given.”
Ray said the extent of the cutback is yet to be confirmed — management is not talking to the workers, she claimed — but could range from $8,000 to $28,000.
When word of these cuts came down, workers walked across the street for “a long coffee break” to plan action.
“It was effective the day before,” said one carrier, who preferred not to be named. “We got the letter the day after … nobody knew anything about it and now all of a sudden our money’s going to go down.”
The same worker noted these are people who have families and some of them are single parents.
“I asked ‘What is this?’ about the letter. ‘I don’t know,’ is all I got,” she said. “So we had to figure it out ourselves.”
Management at the distribution centre would not comment to the media, instead directing inquiries to Kathi Neal of Canada Post’s communications department in Winnipeg. Neal calls what is happening an illegal work stoppage.
When interviewed Wednesday morning, Neal said Canada Post was attempting to work with the employees and meanwhile mail delivery would not be impacted.
Hours later, the statement changed.
“Yesterday the mail was delivered by contractors,” said Neal. “Today this illegal work stoppage has prevented contractors from accessing the depot and it has resulted in the mail not being delivered to a few routes in St. Albert.”
The routes affected by the work stoppage haven’t been confirmed.
“We’re now talking to the Canada Industrial Relations Board in an effort to order our employees back to work,” said Neal. “The main goal is to ensure mail delivery resumes for our customers. We’re confident we’re going to be able to do that.”
Neal said Canada Post is continuing to try to resolve the issue with the employees as well. But with this being an illegal work stoppage, disciplinary action could follow. Neal would not comment on what that could entail, saying it was an internal matter. Ray said the carriers could lose an additional five days of pay or be fired.
“I don’t think any worker comes to this decision lightly. This isn’t something that they just do — this was serious consideration,” said another worker, who also preferred not to be named. “This is one long, long struggle of fights with this employer.”
