Canadian Postal Strikes Spread to Manitoba

OTTAWA, Ontario—Canadian postal workers’ rotating strikes have spread to Manitoba. The Canadian Union of Postal Workers said with 1,500 workers walked out in Winnipeg at 10 p.m. on Oct. 28, with those in Brandon, the province’s second-largest city, following two hours later. Strikes started over the weekend in Niagara Falls, Ontario, and Iles-de-la-Madeleine, Quebec, were still on Oct. 28, the union said. The rotating walkouts began Oct. 22 in Halifax, Nova Scotia; Windsor, Ontario; Edmonton, Alberta; and Victoria, B.C., and included a two-day strike by almost 9,000 CUPW members in the greater Toronto area and a weekend-long walkout by 3,400 in Vancouver. The rotating-strike tactic, Edmonton local President Nancy Dodsworth told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, puts pressure on Canada Post with “less impact to the Canadian public because we’re still open for business, we’re still processing mail, but things will just take a little longer to get through.” Key issues, said Nova Scotia local President Tony Rogers, are that urban postal workers’ pay hasn’t kept up with inflation over the past 12 years, while rural mail carriers want Canada Post to follow a September court settlement that they be paid the same as their urban counterparts. Read more