While Canada Post is set to celebrate its 30th year as a Crown corporation operating under the Canada Post Corporation Act on Oct. 16, rural workers on the Sunshine Coast are facing an uneasy few months.
The rural and suburban mail carriers (RSMC), who deliver mail to most of Canada, including the Coast, will see their eight-year contract come to an end on Dec. 31. When that contract ends, it will be the first time that rural workers will have the right to strike.
"The RSMCs who deliver all the mail, outside of the post offices, on the Sunshine Coast have been waiting for eight years to receive the same working conditions and benefits as other postal employees doing the same work," said Charlene Penner, Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) Sunshine Coast Local 840 president. "RSMCs receive no overtime even when they work over 40 hours per week, no paid sick days, no medical and extended health care. RSMCs have to buy and maintain their own vehicle, which must meet Canada Post guidelines, and Canada Post believes that an average of .44 cents per km is sufficient.
"On Dec. 31, RSMCs will be asking for the same wages and benefits as other Canada Post workers and fair compensation for our vehicles."
Penner points to the lockout four months ago with Canada Post as a triggering point to bring the community up to speed on this impending issue.
"As a Crown corporation, Canada Post has achieved self-sufficiency and 16 consecutive years of growth and profit," Penner added. "This profit is due solely to the work of the employees who process and deliver the mail and 7,000 of these employees are rural workers. We have been unionized since 2004 and belong to the Canadian Union of Postal Workers.
"During the lockout in June, rural and suburban mail carriers were part of a separate bargaining unit and continued to attend their workplaces. The urban unit was eventually legislated back to work and continues the struggle for free collective-bargaining and a fair agreement."
John Hamilton, communications spokesperson for Canada Post said he didn't want to alarm anyone that a mail stoppage was in the near future.
"We haven't received a notice to bargain yet, so it is a bit premature to say what we will be discussing," Hamilton said. "With that being said, once negotiations do start we will certainly be working towards a settlement. Obviously a negotiated settlement is in everyone's best interest."
Hamilton said it is business and usual and expects that talks would start in early 2012 once the RSMC's contract expires.
