The move comes after feds give corporation OK to end door-to-door delivery and ending moratorium on closing rural post offices

The Independent

There are no picket lines up at Petrolia’s Canada Post office, but the doors are locked and the workers there, like those across the country, are on strike.

The federal government gave Canada Post permission to convert four million addresses to community mailboxes, ending the moratorium on closing rural post offices, gave the corporation more flexibility in its delivery standards including cutting the requirement to deliver five days a week and gave the company the ability to raise stamp rates more frequently.

CUP-W issued a statement calling the changes “an outrage” that will lead to ” major job losses.

“Minister (Joel) Lightbound gave the Union no indication that he was going to do this when leadership met with him last week. The Minister said he had the “utmost respect” for postal workers. This is no way to show it,” said National President Jan Simpson.

Simpson says Canada Post tried to convert more home deliveries to community mail boxes a decade ago but customers complained they could not get parcels delivered to their door. And she says, changing delivery standards could “impact mail volumes and confidence in service.”

“This slapdash approach without full public consultation is an insult to the public and to postal workers. The Government may act as the sole shareholder, but the public owns the post office. There was no indication as to what this means for the planned mandate review – nor when that will happen given these massive changes,” says Simpson.

“We cannot accept this attack on good jobs and public services.  Let’s now turn our efforts to making sure the Government and Canada Post hear us loud and clear. We have done it before. We will do it again.”

CUP-W announced a full strike just hours after the government announced the changes.

And it is receiving support from other unions.

“After months of stalled negotiations, this announcement is another example of this government interfering in the process of free collective bargaining,” said CUPE National President Mark Hancock in a news release. “CUPW members deserve the ability to address their working conditions at the bargaining table, and Canadians deserve reliable mail delivery – not repeated service cuts and a never-ending race to the bottom.”

The Ontario Public Employees Union added on social media “The impact this will have on our communities, especially rural ones, cannot be understated.”

In Petrolia, the post office is dark and the doors are lock, although there are no picket lines up as of 11 am.