This article was cross-published with The Sputnik.
After 32 days on the picket line in front of their office Brantford’s Canada post employees were instructed to return to work by the Canada Industrial Relations Board (CIRB) under the direction of the Minister of Labour.
Canada post workers in Brantford say this isn’t the end of the fight. Kamila Mancuso, union representative for local 508, says that after a year of negotiation a strike before the holidays wasn’t something they wanted to do.
“We were at an impasse. We were in a legal, striking position on November 5th, and we waited an additional week, hoping that Canada Post would come to the table. So, the fact that we had walked out on strike on November 15 is just how the timing played out. It certainly wasn’t planned,” Mancuso said.
Mancuso says a large misconception believed by the public is that Canada Post is funded by taxpayers.
Canada Post is a Crown corporation, a government owned company that is self-sustained, structured and funded privately.
Canada Post workers are fighting for more fair wages, other items include a standardized eight-hour day with overtime pay, the continued status of health benefits and equal contracts with the urban operations, meaning the drivers and walking delivery workers would be under the same contract.
While the workers are facing backlash from the public on social media about the simplicity of their job and wanting better wages.
Multiple videos have surfaced over the time of the strike of users claiming that Canada post isn’t necessary, and they should find new jobs if the workers aren’t happy.
Andrea Riga, a rural subdivision mail carrier whose been with the company since 2020, says that’s why she wishes the workers could fight harder.
“They gave them a two-year extension during COVID, and we helped all those small businesses and people that are crying the blues right now. We bent over backwards and helped them with all that and made them money off our back. So, for them to complain and do what they did, it really upsets me,” Riga said.
Riga referred to the contract renewal in 2022, when the union workers originally wanted to fight for these new terms. The workers agreed to maintain the current contract at the time so as not to disrupt small businesses and the community during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Some workers are scared that the negotiating may never happen, such as Julie Taylor, a letter carrier for the company since 2017.
“I’m petrified what’s going to happen in the next five months, because if they haven’t been working towards an agreement, what’s going to make them move forward to help us if they change the whole way Canada Post runs, we’re already hurting with health and safety issues,” Taylor said.
After renewing their contract in 2022, Postal workers of Canadian Union of Postal Worker (CUPW) began negotiating with Canada Post in December 2023.
The negotiations are now at a pause and will be revisited in May 2025.
Photo by Piper Force. Protestors hold up signs.
