**CANADA POST NEWS RELEASE**

While negotiations continue, the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) began strike action in Regina, Sask., Hamilton and North Bay, Ontario and in the Outaouais and Mauricie regions of Quebec. Since October 22, CUPW’s rotating strikes have now shut down Canada Post’s operations in more than 50 communities across the country.

CUPW is also conducting strikes in Ottawa and Eastern Ontario and on Vancouver Island (Campbell River, Courtenay, Nanaimo, and Port Alberni), B.C. Meanwhile, strikes have ended in in Prince Edward Island, and in the Quebec municipalities that were on strike yesterday.

Service impacts as strikes have trailers backlogged

Canada Post has been working hard to minimize the service impact to Canadians, but the union’s escalating strikes have shut down our three largest processing facilities in Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal for up to 48 hours. Combined, these three plants process a million parcels and packets a day for communities across the country and are key to our national, integrated delivery network.

Trailers full of parcels, packets and mail waiting to be unloaded and processed are backlogged in Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal, with more arriving. Once processed, these items have to be delivered without overburdening our delivery employees. As a result, customers could see delays of several days. 

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.

Negotiations 

A special mediator appointed by the federal government joined the parties at an offsite location on Wednesday, October 24, and is working to help them reach a negotiated settlement. Canada Post remains committed to the bargaining process. 

The Corporation 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. 

Customers can go to canadapost.ca/update for updates or follow us on twitter @canadapostcorp for the latest developments.

Filed under: Local News