For Immediate Release
OTTAWA – Job action in the form of a refusal of overtime will start in the province of Alberta and in the Northwest Territories on Monday morning if no settlement is reached, according to the Canadian Union of Postal Workers. However, the Union wants people to know they’ll still be getting their mail.
“Our action will cause little to no disruption for the public. We’ll still be delivering mail every day,” explained Mike Palecek, national president of the CUPW.
“We simply want to draw attention to our negotiation issues by asking our full-time members across the country to work only their scheduled hours. Part-time members can still extend to eight hours but will not accept overtime.”
Overtime has been a major issue for the Union, which has been demanding that Canada Post staff its workforce properly and build routes that match scheduled hours, instead of overburdening workers and making them stay on the job longer. Postal workers can be forced back and severely disciplined for refusing overtime.
The Union says Canada Post should be creating more jobs instead of relying on so much overtime.
“Nobody should be forced to stay at work once they’ve done their hours. We all deserve to see our families and have lives outside our workplaces,” said Palecek.
The overtime ban will rotate from province to province, one day at a time.
“We hope our action will put some pressure on Canada Post to negotiate and to realize that pushing us around isn’t going to work,” said Palecek.
In response to the minimal rotating job action, Canada Post has said it will cut off maternity and adoption leave as well as insurance and other benefits, and cancel the workers’ vacations.