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Mail strike hits Newmarket today

Rotating strike action by the Canadian Union of Postal Workers at Newmarket Local 573 and the York Distribution Centre has halted mail and parcel delivery in Newmarket and other area communities.

Mail delivery in Newmarket has halted with local Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) hitting the picket line this morning, as the third week of rotating strikes against Canada Post continues across the country.

“We’re going one day a time,” Newmarket Local 573 president Crystal DeLuca said. “We’ve shut down 17 stations in my local and there will be no mail delivery in Newmarket or the surrounding area.”

Rotating strikes have shut down Canada Post operations in more than 70 communities across the country.

“Canada Post has been working hard to minimize the service impact to Canadians, but the union’s escalating strikes continue to cause backlogs in our national, integrated delivery network,” Canada Post said.

As a result, customers could see delays of several days.

The Scarborough Local of CUPW went on strike Sunday, with the exception of Pickering, said Local president Mike Duquette in a news release, which halted parcel delivery in Newmarket.

“The eastern one-third of the GTA will have no mail. There will be no parcels from the Toronto downtown, north to Newmarket and east to Port Hope and everything in between,” he said.

The York Distribution Centre will be on strike until workers are instructed to return to work by the national union, Duquette added.

Duquette said, “Normal operations (will) return shortly, our dispute is not with the public, our dispute is with our employer.”

“Mail and parcels will not be delivered or picked up in impacted areas while the union continues their strike activity. We thank our customers for their continued patience and apologize for the inconvenience this is causing,” the Canada Post website stated.

Other York Region communities with no mail service include Maple, Markham, Richmond Hill, Stouffville, Thornhill and Unionville.

As well as Newmarket, local communities without parcel delivery include Bradford, Keswick and King City.

While negotiations continue, CUPW began strike action in Barrie, Simcoe, St. Catharines, Welland, Guelph, Fort Erie and Brantford last month. Strikes are also being conducted in London and Sault Ste. Marie, in Carbonear, Exploits Valley, Gander-Lewisporte, Deer Lake, St. Anthony and Stephenville, N.L., and in Bois-Francs region, Que., according to the Canada Post website.

Canada Post stated that it remains committed to the bargaining process and has made significant offers to CUPW that include increased wages, job security, and improved benefits, and it has not asked for any concessions in return.

“We value the relationship with the union and have been able to find common ground on some issues. We have also committed to work together to address employees’ workload concerns caused by parcel growth, additional financial services and going beyond pay equity for Rural and Suburban employees by extending job security and moving to one uniform for all delivery employees.”

“We are entering our third week of rotating strikes because management still refuses to address the urgent health and safety issues that have left postal workers the most injured group of workers in the federal sector,” Mike Palecek, CUPW national president, said in a news release. “We have a health and safety crisis at Canada Post. We've seen injury rates skyrocket. This has got to be fixed.”

Palecek said that “after more than 10 months of negotiations, the intervention of two mediators and two weeks of rotating strikes, Canada Post’s true colours are emerging".

“The lofty rhetoric of wanting to work with us to reach fair agreements for our workers is turning out to be nothing more than smoke and mirrors. It needs to be said: Canada Post talks the talk, but doesn’t walk the walk,” he said.

CUPW is holding a national overtime ban for both of its major bargaining units at Canada Post.

‘’Overburdening, overtime and overwork are all major issues in this round of bargaining. Until Canada Post negotiators address it, we can solve it for ourselves in the meantime,” said Palecek.

Canada Post updates are posted here.

CUPW updates are posted here


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Debora Kelly

About the Author: Debora Kelly

Debora Kelly is NewmarketToday's editor. She is an award-winning journalist and communications professional who is passionate about building strong communities through engagement, advocacy and partnership.
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