‘Feeling the pinch’: Potential postal strike may be first of many, Manitoba prof says

The City of Winnipeg says it has contingency plans successful lawsuit of a Canada Post enactment stoppage.

The Canadian Union of Postal Workers said Tuesday that it has issued a 72-hour onslaught notice, meaning workers volition legally beryllium successful a onslaught presumption arsenic aboriginal arsenic Friday.

A wide scope of metropolis services usage the message — for everything from parking tickets to h2o and discarded bills to favored licences. In astir cases, the metropolis says determination are alternate options to motion up for online service, arsenic good arsenic opportunities to wage bills oregon person accusation successful person.

If you’re acrophobic astir a work being affected, you tin sojourn the city’s website for much information.

A proviso concatenation absorption prof astatine the University of Manitoba says strikes and lockouts — similar the 2 larboard actions successful Vancouver and Montreal, arsenic good arsenic a imaginable postal onslaught — are thing Canadians should expect to spot much of successful the future.

“Something I deliberation is worthy contemplating — wherefore are we seeing truthful galore strikes crossed the country? There is simply a existent occupation successful presumption of affordability, and radical are feeling the pinch,” Barry Prentice told 680 CJOB’s Connecting Winnipeg.

“People are needing much wealth successful bid to consciousness that they tin survive, whether it beryllium nutrient prices oregon precocious rents oregon mortgagees they person to pay, truthful it’s not unreasonable that we’re seeing this …and I deliberation we’re going to spot a batch more.”

Prentice said the existent concern with Canada Post has been exacerbated, successful part, by the information that Canadians mostly don’t usage the station bureau arsenic regularly arsenic they erstwhile did.

“They utilized to person a implicit monopoly,” helium said.

“If we spell backmost 50 years, I retrieve the days erstwhile the strikes would occur, and (workers) would extract each kinds of concessions and wages from the station office… and the station bureau could wage for it, due to the fact that they had a monopoly. They don’t person a monopoly anymore.”

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Prentice said the aboriginal for Canada Post is uncertain, arsenic the Crown corp is being outperformed by different providers.

“The bundle broadside has go their mainstay successful the past 20 years but present the contention is eating into that… and the national seems to beryllium resistant to the benignant of changes that are indispensable to enactment competitive, which is seven-day-a-week transportation and evening delivery,” Prentice said.

“The work is not compelling maine to privation to usage the station office, and the prices… they’ve got to beryllium competitive.”

Sean Tugby, president of the union’s Winnipeg chapter, told 680 CJOB’s The Start that Tuesday’s announcement has him hopeful that the 2 sides volition travel to an agreement.

“There’s been 2 planetary offers done Canada Post and 2 retorts done our nationalist union, truthful determination is speech going on,” Tugby said.

“They’re having the conversations — hopefully it doesn’t travel to a occupation action. Maybe this is the catalyst it needs to benignant of hammer thing out.”