OLDS – Canada Post workers in Olds started strike action Friday with some picketing outside their shuttered place of employment.
On the morning of Tuesday, Nov. 12, the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) issued a 72-hour strike notice to Canada Post for both the rural suburban mail carriers (RSMC) and urban operations bargaining units.
The union’s national executive board decided that a nationwide strike of both bargaining units would begin on Nov. 15 as of 12:01 a.m. Eastern time.
Postal workers in Olds hit the picket line at 9 a.m. Friday and roused support from the sidewalk adjacent to the Canada Post office at 5034 51 Street until 1 p.m.
Passerbys offered support, workers said.
Unless negotiations over the weekend end the strike, the Olds Canada Post workers said they would be back picketing at the same time Monday.
Olds’ nine RSMC workers, four on-call relief workers and six clerks are among more than 55,000 postal workers across Canada on strike.
In a statement issued Friday, Canada Post says its operations are shut down “affecting millions of Canadians and businesses across the country.”
Canada Post said customers will experience delays due to the strike activity.
“Mail and parcels will not be processed or delivered for the duration of the national strike, and some post offices will be closed. Service guarantees will be impacted for items already in the postal network. No new items will be accepted until the national disruption is over,” the Crown corporation’s Friday statement said.
The Olds workers cited pay, health and safety issues and hours of employment as common issues among bargaining units that needed to be resolved in the negotiations.
