By Eli J. Ridder, Jesse Gill

LABOUR

Medicine Hat postal workers say they aren’t being heard

Nov 15, 2024 | 12:55 PM

An official with Medicine Hat’s local Canadian Union of Postal Workers division said Friday that employees of the national Crown corporation aren’t being heard as labour disruptions began.

“We’ve come to them with some service expansion ideas, and we’re getting nowhere,” said Karen Hellawell, president of Local 776.

The local division represents about 100 postal workers across Medicine Hat, Brooks and area, a small part of the some 55,000 employees countrywide now on strike.

The union issued a 72-hour strike notice earlier in the week, saying it’s been asking for fair wages, safer working conditions and other improvements over nearly a year of bargaining.

“We still believe we can achieve negotiated collective agreements, but Canada Post must be willing to resolve our new and outstanding issues,” the union said in a statement.

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Hellawell, speaking from the picket line Friday, said Canada Post hasn’t come to the bargaining “in good faith.”

“We’ve given them ample opportunity, and up to and including a year of negotiations, and they’re just not coming to us,” she told CHAT News.

“We’re talking about some important things, like our pension plan, our benefits. Of course, wages is always an issue. There’s a cost of living allowance.”

— with files from the Canadian Press