Mail Union Steps Up Job Action

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The Canadian Union of Postal Workers is stepping up job action as contract talks continue on.

The union says that effective November 1st at 12:01am, there will be a national overtime ban for both of its major bargaining units at Canada Post.

Postal workers, no matter what their job at Canada Post, will not work more than an eight-hour day and not more than a 40-hour week.

The union says that postal workers  have experienced so much forced overtime that some of them are not used to seeing their families before dark.

“We’ve had it. 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 CUPW National President Mike Palecek. “This is a health and safety issue rooted in poor staffing. We refuse to be injured any longer by a management team that cares more about the bottom line than sky-rocketing injury rates.”

One of the expired collective agreements enabled Canada Post to give mandatory overtime to some postal workers, including letter carriers.  With the contract no longer in effect, postal workers have the right to refuse the overtime.

The union also says that the rates of disabling injuries have been climbing, and postal workers are now the most injured group of workers in the federal sector, five times the average rate of the rest of federal sector, and more than double that of longshore workers, the next most frequently injured.

“As our routes get longer and longer, our bodies are breaking down,” Palecek said.   “This ends today.