Issue: Postal Workers Need Your Help – TODAY!
Actions Requested: Support the CUPW picket line at 131 – 1 Herbert Road, St. Albert
When: April 13, 2011 – Immediately
Your help is urgently needed on a picket line at a Canada Post distribution centre in St. Albert, where members of Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) walked off the job yesterday.
The picket is being maintained 24 hours a day to prevent scabs from going to work at the installation, 131-1 Herbert Road, St. Albert (the southeast corner of the strip mall at St. Albert Trail and Herbert Road). Canada Post has had contractors nearby, and made attempts to bring them in to do the work of CUPW members. CUPW, members and supporters blocked the entrance to protect the work of the unionized rural and suburban mail carriers (RSMC) employees.
Letter carriers, MSCs and Canada Post customers are not being prevented from entering and leaving the site.
“Our members are furious over changes introduced without notice that could cost them thousands of dollars per year,” says Bev Ray, president of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) Local 730 in Edmonton.
The rural and suburban mail carriers were given letters by Canada Post yesterday saying that the number of parcels they delivered was being cut.
“There was no discussion with the carriers beforehand and no notice provided to the union. In fact, Canada Post said the new rules came into effect April 11, even though the letters weren’t given to the RSMC employees until April 12,” says Ray.
The carriers, who use their own vehicles and pay for their own insurance to deliver the mail, get paid per piece of mail delivered, so a cut in parcels means a cut in pay that could come to thousands of dollars per year.
“These workers have not had a pay increase for more than two years. To arbitrarily announce measures that will seriously cut their wages is an appalling and inconsiderate move by Canada Post management,” says Ray.
About 15 rural and suburban mail carriers are affected at the St. Albert centre, but CUPW is concerned that similar measures are being planned at other Canada Post facilities across the country.
For information, contact: Bev Ray, president of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) Local 730, 780-423-9000, ext. 223.