Important mail may be late unless postal workers reach deal
Posted May 18, 2011 10:23 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – Your mail could stop flowing next week if postal workers and Canada Post don’t reach a deal before then. But welfare and assistance cheques shouldn’t be disrupted.
John Hamilton with Canada Post says the postal workers union will be in a legal strike position as of midnight next Tuesday, but adds, “The deal we have with the union is if there is a work disruption, the socio-economic cheques will continue; old age security and pensions and things like that.”
Kim Evans with the Canadian Union of Postal Employees Vancouver local says they don’t want to disrupt mail service — not to mention census forms and our HST ballots — but they have little choice since they can’t stomach what he calls rollbacks in pensions and pay. “We provide a service at crucial times for things like census, like referenda.”
“It’s obviously not something we want to disrupt, but that is what we have at our disposal,” he adds. “When things are being pushed upon us by an employer, the right to strike is something that we have.”
The BC government says it’s going to mail out welfare cheques a week early this month in case the mail stops.
Meanwhile, Elections BC says the chief electoral officer can extend the dates of the HST referendum if there is a disruption at Canada Post. Staff say Canada Post is the only way they’ll get ballots out to voters.
