Thursday’s Strike Vote for Postal Workers

The head of the union local representing postal carriers in Windsor has said they’ve met nearly 100 times but haven’t gotten anywhere and is hoping that a strike vote can break the stalemate.

Phil Lyons (Canadian Union of Postal Workers Local 630 President) said, “There were a lot of issues left from 2012 and 2016 that were put off, and we’re hoping that this basically gets everything kick-started as we have a strike deadline of September 26.”

the Unifor 444/200 Hall on Turner Rd. in Windsor is where the vote will be held on Thursday. There will be three sessions for urban carriers; 7:30 am, 1:30 pm, and 6:30 pm. There is a 5 pm vote for members of the local who work out of Belle River.

About 480 members in Windsor, Tecumseh, and Lakeshore are represented by the local, while another local represents postal carriers in the south end of Essex County.

According to Lyons, nobody wants to walk off the job.

“We’ve got great momentum going with the parcel industry, and things are really looking up for the company and our members, and we just don’t want to compromise that,” Lyons said. Additionally, he commented that previous concerns od declining letter delivery seem to have leveled out.

Lyons also said that in the hope of gaining some of those benefits back, members gave up their sick time in 2012.

There are many sticking points in talks including pension benefits and the sustainability of other benefits for retirees, as well as efforts to make Canada Post more environmentally responsible, along with deflecting attempts to privatize the Crown Corporation.

Lyons explained, “For the life of me, being a numbers guy, I just don’t get it. We’ve turned a profit every year. We provide a great service to Canadians. So, we’re always fighting to keep us as a public service.”