CUPW Strike Heads Back to Vancouver Island

400 Postal Workers Join Picket Lines in BC This Morning

For Immediate Release

Ottawa – Members of Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) working in four locals on Vancouver Island, in British Columbia, walked off the job on Wednesday morning. Workers from the Nanaimo, Port Alberni, Courtenay and Campbell River locals joined fellow workers from Prince Edward Island, Quebec and Ontario, who went on strike earlier today.

“Canada Post may call their offers ‘significant’ but they don’t address a single one of our major issues,” says Mike Palecek, CUPW National President. “Management refuses to address the urgent health and safety issues that have left postal workers the most injured group of workers in the federal sector. And the wage increases Canada Post so proudly talks about are well-below the expected inflation rate. These offers are far from significant to us. We will stay on the picket line as well as the bargaining table until we reach fair agreements for all our workers.”

Workers in the following locals returned to work last night and earlier today:

• Montreal, Quebec
• Cobourg, Ontario
• Petawawa-Deep River, Ontario
• Fort Frances, Ontario
• Kapuskasing, Ontario
• Kenora, Ontario
• Tri-Town, Ontario
• Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan
• Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
• Weyburn, Saskatchewan
• Dawson Creek, British Columbia
• Fort Nelson, British Columbia
• Columbia River, British Columbia
• Nelson, British Columbia