Edmonton Canada Post workers hit the picket line for the third time
A rotating Canada Post strike made its way to Edmonton for the third time this weekend.
Local letter carriers, plant workers and members of CUPW Edmonton 730 stood outside the northwest Edmonton Canada Post processing centre, hoping to rally public support.
“There’s been a lot of support coming through,” said Nancy Dodsworth, president of CUPW Edmonton 730. “It’s our third time out on our nationwide rotating strikes. We were called out Thursday night and we’ve been out on the line since then.”
Dodsworth tells Global News the main sticking points for union members continue to be health and safety.
“We need safe work,” she said. “We’ve gone to Canada Post time and time again saying we need this fixed.
“With the postal transformation coming in about a decade ago — we’ve had a lot of problems since then — right now we are the highest in the federal sector for injury rates, so we must have our safety needs met.”
Dodsworth blames the high injury rates on years of short-staffing, forced overtime and what she calls “over-burdening on routes.”
“It’s just cumulative effects,” she added. “We never planned to go on strike but we knew we may have to. The least impact we could do to the Canadian public at this time of year was to do rotating strikes.”
The strikes are now into their fourth week.
Workers in Edmonton, Kelowna and Saint John NB hit the picket lines this weekend.
Canada Post presented the latest offer on Nov. 14th, which the Crown corporation said included significant pay increases and addressed many of the union’s issues surrounding health and safety.
The union had until midnight on Saturday to accept it.
The union is also asking for pay equity for temporary workers.
Both sides have been working with a mediator over the past year but have failed to come to an agreement.
“The [public] needs to get in touch with Canada Post and tell Canada Post that they need to get back to the bargaining table,” Dodsworth said.
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