Unionized postal workers are striking, which means a temporary stop to letter and package delivery across the country, including in Winnipeg.
The job action comes after Canada Post announced a plan to shore up its finances by ending door-to-door mail delivery for almost all households within the next decade.
Sean Tugby, president of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) Winnipeg local 856, says the strike isn’t something local postal workers — or their counterparts across the country — wanted to do.
“I truly apologize to all customers who are being inconvenienced at this time — that’s not our goal,” Tugby told 680 CJOB’s The Start.
“We’ve been saying we’ve been wanting a negotiated contract. If this applies pressure for them to actually do that, that’s exactly what we want.
“If they came up with a contract we can all live with tomorrow, we’d effectively be off the line then.”
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The union, which represents around 55,000 postal workers across the country, hasn’t had a new contract in nearly two years, Tugby said, despite the job becoming more grueling for some mail carriers.
“Walks have got substantially longer. Once upon a time, letter carriers would be doing about 20,000 steps a day — twice what the average person is suggested to get,” he said.
“Currently, most walks are up to 38,000 steps a day, which works out to about 3.8 marathons every five days.”
Tugby said members are picketing at Canada Post’s Winnipeg headquarters by the airport, as well as at local MPs’ offices.
The strike means other organizations are scrambling to find a workaround.
Manitoba Hydro said Friday that the labour disruption means paper bills — and customers’ payments sent through the mail — won’t be delivered.
The utility is asking Hydro users to sign up for an online account to avoid missing a bill or a payment while the strike continues.
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