Ladysmith’s Canada Post office was closed on Wednesday as workers took to the picket lines outside the building.
The labour disruptions are part of a series of rolling strikes that started on Oct. 22, while mediated negotiations with the Crown corporation continue.
Workers in Courtenay, Campbell River, Nanaimo and Port Alberni took to the picket lines today, joining their colleagues in Ontario and Quebec.
“We’re battling with the corporation across Canada for a new collective agreement right now,” said Wayde Heckford, CUPW Local 786 president.
The closure of the Ladysmith post office is expected to last all day. People are still able to enter the building to access mailboxes.
Some of the issues at the centre of the dispute are pay, delivery route structures, and increased loads from rising numbers of package deliveries due to online shopping.
“Right now we’re in negotiations for overburdening and stuff like that and all our routes were based on not having this much volume,” Heckford said. “Today we have this much volume. We have, I believe, the highest rate of injury in our sector of work right now. So, the corporation says they understand it and everything like that, but they don’t want to do anything to fix it.”
CUPW’s urban and rural postal workers are currently without agreements.
- With files from Nanaimo News Bulletin