Canada Post Strike leads to mail delivery

Canada employees have undertaken a national strike after the federal government authorized generalized reforms that would close certain post offices and end certain types of deliveries.

The Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) has described the proposed reforms to “attack our postal service and our workers” as it has announced the employment action.

The 55,000 union members’ strike intervenes in the middle of an in progress dispute concerning remuneration and benefits for postal employees who led to a raising several weeks at the end of last year.

Canada Post said operations will close during the strike, leaving the mail and parcels not delivered to millions and the addition of this would worsen the already disastrous financial misfortunes of the company.

The radical changes announced by the federal government follow years of financial loss suffered by the postal service, which faces a reduction in demand and strong competition from the delivery services of private packages.

The Minister of Supply, Joël Lightbound, said on Thursday that Canada Post lost $ 1 billion Canadian dollars ($ 717; 535 million pounds sterling) last year and is expected to lose $ 1.5 billion this year.

“Canada’s post is actually insolvent and repeated remedies are not a long-term solution,” he said in a statement.

The proposed project will see the closure of several post offices in areas that were once rural and offer more flexibility to increase prices. The service could also reduce the types of air -delivered packages and rely more on land transport to reduce costs.

An important proposal will consist in putting an end to home deliveries, which will see parcels delivered to the mailboxes of the community instead of the doors of people.

It is estimated that four million addresses still receive this service in the country.

“The objective, in the end, is to save Canada’s post,” Lighbound told journalists.

The postal workers’ union said that proposals “will only undermine public service” and not meet the needs of customers.

Canada Post said he was “disappointed that the union has chosen to degenerate his strike activity, which will still deteriorate the financial situation of Canada Post”.

“A national strike of any length has an impact on service to Canadians and businesses well after the end of strike activity,” he added.

On Friday, in a press release, the Canadian Association for Independent Affairs warned that the impact of jobs’ action on small businesses in the country would be “massive”.

“Doing this in the performance of the critical delivery season for vacation holidays is particularly disturbing,” he said.

Social security government checks will continue to be provided during the strike.

Last year, workers embarked on a several -week strike on salary and improving working conditions.

Negotiations on the salary dispute are not resolved.