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Dozens of Canada Post workers were out on the picket line in downtown Regina on Friday, carrying signs reading “CUPW ON STRIKE,” and “Save Door-to-Door.”
Morgan Janzen, president of CUPW Local Regina 820, said postal workers are feeling a lot of disappointment after Public Works and Procurement Minister Joël Lightbound announced that the struggling Crown corporation will slow down the frequency of mail delivery and shutter some post offices. Door-to-door mail delivery will end for almost all Canadian households within the next decade.
Read more:
- Unionized postal workers on strike after plans to end most home delivery announced
- Five things to know about Canada Post’s future after Ottawa announces reforms
- Canada Post workers walk off job in protest of sweeping changes
The change away from door-to-door delivery is expected to save Canada Post $400 million annually, and Lighbound noted that the company lost more than $1 billion last year.
Workers walked off the job in protest on Thursday, kicking off a nationwide strike.
“Everyone’s very stressed right now,” Janzen said.
“We all kind of saw it coming when Canada Post refused to come to the negotiating table time and time again. This is what happens.”
Janzen noted that he’s held the role of president in the local union for less than a week.
“Nothing like a trial by fire,” he said.
Morgan Janzen, president of CUPW Local Regina 820, said he held the role for less than a week before hitting the picket line. (Abby Zieverink/980 CJME)
Janzen said it was also heartbreaking to hear the federal government announce it was lifting its moratorium on the closure of rural post offices.
“In Saskatchewan and all the prairie provinces, we have a lot of rural areas and a lot of farmers, and people don’t want to drive an hour to get their mail,” Janzen said.
“We’re just gonna just throw the rural people to the dogs, because they’re just not valuable enough? Apparently, but we think they are valuable and we think that it’s a worthy service to give people in rural areas.”
The latest strike comes less than a year after Canada Post workers last walked off the job. Janzen said workers aren’t happy about being back on the picket lines.
“We just came out of a strike in November, so we’re still recovering from that, and then now we’re going to be doing this again. Hopefully this is a quick one.”
A striking Canada Post employee carries a sign in front of the post office on Saskatchewan Drive in Regina on Friday, Sept. 26 as workers hit the picket line for the second day. (Abby Zieverink/980 CJME)
Janzen said he hopes the strike doesn’t last too long, but he anticipates it will continue for at least a few weeks.
He said the union is begging Canada Post to come to the table to negotiate.
In Saskatchewan, Janzen noted that postal workers face a unique set of challenges when it comes to delivery, often dealing with cold weather, snow, wind and even dogs.
“We have people on long-term disability from dog bites and slips and falls, and broken bones, and every year it happens and nothing ever changes. That’s the biggest hurdle that we face here, considering other provinces that may not have the extremes that we do,” the union leader explained.
In Regina, around 450 Canada Post workers are impacted by the nationwide strike. (Abby Zieverink/980 CJME)
Strike puts ‘huge financial strain’ on local businesses
For one small business owner, Canada Post’s second strike in less than a year means not getting paid – again.
Greg Litvanyi is a city councillor in Yorkton and owner of 251 Forensic Fire Investigations. Insurance companies use his firm to determine the origin, cause and circumstances of fires.
Litvanyi said his business sends out invoices electronically, but all his clients pay by sending cheques in the mail. While he plans on encouraging customers to use direct payments instead, he said some of his larger clients aren’t set up for e-transfers as they’ve always just sent things in the mail.
The problem with that system became apparent during the last strike, Litvanyi explained.
“It financially disrupted our business for two to three months afterwards, until payments got caught up,” he said.
According to Litvanyi, the cheques “trickled in” after the end of the previous strike, because Canada Post workers had to sort through a backlog of mail.
Litvanyi said his staff are paid monthly, and waiting for payments created a “huge financial strain,” since no money was coming back into the business. He said it’s going to happen again this time around.
“I’m literally sitting down to do payroll this month, and we have no income coming in because all of those cheques that have been sent are stuck in processing facilities now,” he said.
Litvanyi said he’s considering switching to a different mail carrier to help his business avoid disruptions in the future.
Closing rural post offices will devastate communities: P.A. union president
Ben McCoy, president of CUPW Local 810 in Prince Albert, said he expects Canada Post’s move to close some rural post offices will have “devastating” impacts on small communities across Canada.
As an example, McCoy said it could mean people in Choiceland driving 80 kilometres into Prince Albert just to pick up their mail.
Prince Albert serves as the mail hub for northern Saskatchewan and distributes mail to communities as far away La Ronge, and McCoy said shuttering rural post offices and making people drive long distances will be especially difficult for seniors and those with mobility issues.
McCoy said keeping those smaller offices open is “vital” for people living rural Saskatchewan, with Canada Post delivering more than just letters and bills in many cases.
“Sometimes they’re ordering medications through the mail,” he said.
Business as usual for City of Saskatoon, despite postal strike
Despite the strike at Canada Post, the City of Saskatoon says it will work to ensure customer service and business operations go on without interruption.
“Given the disruption to mail delivery, we want to remind the community that it’s business as usual at City Hall,” Mike Voth, the city’s director of corporate revenue, said in a statement.
“We encourage residents to use our convenient online services, sign up for paperless billing and also visit the City’s website for information and our latest updates.”
The city noted that the Canada Post disruption could result in longer wait times, both on the phone and in person at City Hall, and advised residents to make use of online services as much as possible in order to avoid waiting.
Postal strike also impacts charities
It’s not just businesses seeing impacts from this week’s postal strike, it’s also charities.
Laurie O’Connor is the executive director of the Saskatoon Food Bank & Learning Centre and she said that they have experienced this before.
When it comes to the last major Canada post strike, O’Connor said they were forced to make big changes.
“It was a lot of us taking calls telling folks how they could donate,” she said.
“Alternatively, some folks aren’t comfortable donating online. I know that myself and a number of our staff were dispatched to some folks’ homes to pick up cheques,” she said.
“You just kind of do what you need to do, to support the organization, to support the cause, to support the donors,” said O’Connor.
As for this strike in particular, she said that there will be an impact.
“I mean getting and paying bills will be more difficult, and we’ll have to do some of that stuff in person and by hand, all those kinds of things,” she said.
“I think the biggest impact will be for donors, and that will have an impact, of course, on our bottom line here at the food bank and learning center,” said O’Connor.
Regina seniors Ruth Lechner and Wilford Burns share their views on Canada Post ending door-to-door delivery. (Jacob Bamhour/980 CJME)
Seniors split on Canada Post’s plans
In Regina, seniors are split on Canada Post’s plan to phase out home delivery for about eight million households.
Lynne Pippin has lived in the same home for 53 years and says losing daily delivery would make life harder for her and her neighbours.
“I would have to get family to pick up my mail for me,” she said, adding that icy sidewalks and aging mobility make community boxes a serious concern.
Lynne Pippin, a Regina homeowner of 53 years, says losing door-to-door mail service would be a major inconvenience. (Jacob Bamhour/980 CJME)
Others see things differently.
Ruth Lechner, a 35-year homeowner, said she’s accustomed to community mailboxes and actually enjoys building walks around them.
“It’s good to have a little daily walk,” she said. Wilfred Burns takes a more neutral approach, he said that most of his bills are paid in advance. “It doesn’t really matter much that way”.
–with files from 650 CKOM’s Marija Robinson, 650 CKOM’S Roman Hayter and 980 CJME’s Jacob Bamhour.
