Canada Post workers on picket line in Hamilton say they're fighting for themselves and the community
'We want better jobs for everyone,' says Kevin Delaney, a letter carrier and picket captain
The wind chill made it feel as cold as –10 C on the snow-covered Hamilton picket line, but postal worker Kevin Delaney said the support he gets from his co-workers keeps him warm.
"We are here standing up for one another, and it's invigorating, it's inspiring," Delaney, who delivers mail downtown and is now a picket captain, told CBC Hamilton outside the Canada Post depot on Frid Street on Thursday.
Delaney is among the about 55,000 Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) members who've been on strike since mid-November.
The financial repercussions of being on strike are being felt by union members — Delaney said he knows one who just got a home eviction notice. Shutting down the national postal service has also had significant economic impacts.
Before and during the strike, Canada Post workers have been struggling with the cost of living, said Delaney, who also wants people to understand why they're on picket lines despite the hardship.
"Yes, we're fighting for ourselves, but also we hope that the things that we're fighting for trickle out into the community more broadly. We don't want better jobs for us. We want better jobs for Hamiltonians. We want better jobs for everyone, and that's what we're fighting for."
Negotiations between Canada Post and CUPW are on hold.
Canada Post presented a "framework" to the union on Dec. 1 that includes a proposal to bring greater flexibility to the corporation's delivery model and shows "movement on other key issues," according to a statement.
The union responded two days later, outlining four "key issues" it wants addressed. Its statement calls for:
- Fair wages, citing the "worst cost of living crisis in a generation."
- Safe working conditions, as postal workers have the "second highest rate of disabling injury among workers under federal jurisdiction." The statement added: "We need Canada Post to live up to its word and make worker health and safety the priority it says it is."
- More public postal services, with a Canada Post commitment to work with the union on expanding services.
- Retiring with dignity. Pensions "should not have been on the bargaining table in the first place," the statement said, adding pensions are "not the problem" when it comes to Canada Post financial issues.
Tracey Langille, a letter carrier in Burlington, Ont., who serves as her union local's president, said workers "can't give in on things like a pension."
"Postal workers before us stood up so that I could have the pension I have today, and I'm not going to let them down and I'm not going to let the people behind me down," she told CBC Hamilton.
Langille said this is her third strike, her first as local president and her first all-out strike, meaning all union members are off work at once.
"It's a tremendously humbling and empowering experience," she said.
Langille and Delaney are part of CUPW Local 548, which represents about 1,600 postal workers across 16 workplaces in the Hamilton area.
"We're a public service, and we deliver to places the for-profit couriers don't want to … and we deliver there for the same price across the country," she said.
Langille said her motivator has been the fellow workers and the community they've built at each picket line.
"I believe in what we're doing and I believe we're going to succeed."
With files from The Canadian Press