Dozens of postal workers are off the job in Richmond, B.C., Monday as part of the rotating Canada Post strikes that are continuing across the country.

More than 100 locations across Canada have taken part since national rotating strikes began three weeks ago.

About 1,600 workers at the Richmond sorting facility walked off the job and were picketing on Saturday.

The facility sorts and dispatches parcels and mail for depots across the province.

The dispute between Canada Post and the union representing 50,000 postal workers continues with CUPW saying the two sides are still very far apart as the extended mandate of the mediator brought in to find a resolution has now expired.

Anju Parmar, CUPW Vancouver local third vice-president told Global News Monday that the situation is unfortunate but not surprising, given postal workers have had their contract demands on the table since last year.

“We are not happy about it. We were so looking forward to Canada Post coming to the bargaining table and they are still not budging in anything. We still have a lot of outstanding demands.”

The demands include staffing, job security, fair wages and a better work-life balance.

The union is again accusing Canada Post of failing to address those key issues that have stemmed from the explosive growth of parcel deliveries.

“Ongoing rotating strikes is less impact on customers and less impact on employees too at the same time, but we don’t have much choice left,” Parmar said.

The full list of impacted cities across Canada can be found on the Canada Post website.

So far, there is no word on if there will be more job action beyond the strike currently in place in Vancouver or if the federal government will force an end to the postal disruption.

Source: Read Full Article