‘We’re not going back:’ Calgary postal workers defiant in face of impending back-to-work order

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Postal workers in Calgary voiced defiance Saturday, insisting they won’t settle for a status-quo contract even as they confront a likely back-to-work order.

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At a rally attended by more than 100 picketers outside the Calgary mail processing plant in the city’s northeast, a local union president vowed they won’t accept anything short of their main demands and are even ready to defy any directive ordering them back to work.

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“We’ll figure out what our members are saying and (they’ll) give us direction,” said Wycliffe Oduor, president of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers Local 710 which represents 2,500 Canada Post staffers.

“If no mail goes out, no mail goes out.”

On Friday, federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon said he’s referred the dispute to the Canada Industrial Relations Board which would order nearly 55,000 to end their strike and extend the current collective agreement until May 22, 2025 — if the board determines a deal isn’t within immediate reach.

If that happens, postal workers could be back on the job as early as next week.

Regardless of what happens, Oduor said his members won’t accept what he calls “horrible conditions” that are now a reality for them.

“We must determine the content of our next contract … we weren’t out here four weeks for nothing,” he said.

“On Monday, our picket lines will be up and running and we will not kowtow to an employer who uses the government to legislate us back … we are not going back.”

Postal workers walked off the job a month ago and in their latest proposal, CUPW  is seeking a 19 per cent pay hike over four years — down from 24 per cent — and a guaranteed 20-hour work week for part-time employees.

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They’re also fighting against the widening use of so-called precarious, or temporary labour.

Canada Post has rejected those demands, saying the pay component would cost it $2.9 billion, while it’s pushed for greater use of part-time workers.

Some of the Calgary posties voiced frustration over the duration of the impasse which has left them with strike pay that’s a fraction of their normal wage.

“What’s the point — we’ve been four weeks on strike and they’re saying we’re going to go back (to work),” said letter-carrier Kulwinder Singh.

“We’ve lost a month’s pay and next year we won’t strike because they’ll just order us back to work.”

Another union member who chose to anonymous said “a lot of people will want to go” back to work after a month on the picket line.

In addressing his members, Oduor acknowledged their sacrifice but urged persistence.

“Our pain is our gain — we’ve never received a single thing on a silver platter from this employer,” he said.

An online Angus Reid poll that canvassed 3,003 people Nov. 29 to Dec. 3 found a slim plurality of respondents favoured Canada Post’s stance over that of its striking workers, by a count of 34 per cent to 29 per cent.

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Another 23 per cent said they supported neither side and 14 per cent couldn’t say.

While the surge in e-commerce, email and rival delivery services has battered and beaten Canada Post — $748 million in losses in 2023 alone and $3 billion since 2018 — the strike is still creating chaos amid the holiday rush.

The Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) says small firms have been losing $100 million a day due to the strike while charities say it’s hammered their fundraising efforts by disrupting mailed donor requests and donations.

CFIB President Dan Kelly on Friday welcomed the prospect of Canada Post staff being ordered back to work but said the strike has done irreparable damage both to business and the federal crown corporation.

“The cost of the strike to small business has been profound,” he said in a statement Friday.

“Nearly three-quarters of small firms report they will reduce their dependence on Canada Post going forward, making it even more challenging for the corporation to operate in the future.”

Attending Saturday’s rally was Alberta Federation of Labour President Gil McGowan, who read a letter he’s sent to federal government and Canada Post officials that emphasized the constitutional right to strike that’s been acknowledged by Labour Minister MacKinnon.

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“So which is it — do workers have the right to strike or not?” said McGowan.

“This is sending a message to all employers that all they have to do is stall negotiations.”

He called for the firing of Canada Post’s board of directors.

U.S. president-elect Donald Trump has expressed a desire to privatize the U.S. Postal Service which lost $9.5 billion in the last fiscal year.

But pushing that change would likely trigger a backlash from rural, heavily Republican-voting jurisdictions that rely on the federal service.

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X: @BillKaufmannjrn

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