Canada Post union employees will be moving to rotating strike action following a 15-day nation-wide strike.
A post on the Canadian Union of Postal Workers' website says that beginning Saturday (Oct. 11), at 6 a.m. local time, union members will move to rotating strikes at Canada Post. The current nation-wide strike remains in effect until that time.
In an emailed statement from Canada Post Friday, the Crown corporation said it would be welcoming back employees and plans were under way "to ensure a safe and orderly restart of our national operations."
Canada Post and the union have been in the midst of contract negotiations, with the latest from the union calling for 19-per-cent increase to wages over four years, compared to Canada Post's offer of 13 per cent.
The union, in a statement Thursday, said mail and parcels will begin moving again, but the decision to move to rotating strikes was not made lightly.
"Postal workers would much rather have new collective agreements and be delivering mail instead of taking strike action," the statement from national president Jan Simpson said.
"Yet, we could not stand by as the Government announced its plans to allow Canada Post to gut our postal service and slash thousands of our jobs. Contract after contract, this employer has sought to chip away at postal services, worker rights and good jobs, and its latest offers are an outright attack on public service."
Workers went on strike Sept. 25 following what the union called the "Government's attack on our postal service and workers."
It was earlier that day that federal Government Transformation Minister Joël Lightbound, the minister responsible for Canada Post, directed the Crown corporation to end door-to-door home delivery, among other recommendations from a report in the spring from the Industrial Inquiry Commission, to save costs.
Lightbound said Canada Post was facing an "existential crisis" and it was losing about $10 million every day.
As a result, he directed Canada Post to modernize to stabilize finances.
