Postal service grinds to a halt on P.E.I. as workers strike

Maildelivery has come to a standstillonP.E.I. as Canada Post workers on the Island jointhe picket line ina national strike that began Friday morning.

Many workers are picketing outside the main Canada Post processing plant in Charlottetown, and small groups are also picketing outside some post offices.

"We got the call last night that we were going on strike at 1:01 a.m. this morning," said Pearl Gillis Palmer, president of the union local in Charlottetown. "We came to the main processing plant and cleared the plant of our membership.

"This is the main plant, and if the mail is stopped here, it's stopped everywhere," she said.

About 300 union members on P.E.I. look after mail delivery, Gillis Palmer said.

The Canadian Union of Postal Workers is asking for wage increases to keep pace withinflation, better working conditions and improved retirement packages.

"The members are disappointed, they've been at the bargaining table for the last year," Gillis Palmer said. "We had to go to drastic measures to get something done."

Government cheques not in the mail

The union has agreed that its workers will still deliver federal government aid and pension cheques.

And Islanders will still get their cheques for social assistance, medical test results, maintenance enforcement and workers'compensation benefits through"alternative pickup and delivery methods," the provincial government said in a news release Friday. Many Islanders have already received information about direct deposit options, it added.

With an eye on the looming strike, the province had already identified services that would be affected, and kept social program cheques out of the Canada Post system, the release said.

Clients can contact their individual support co-ordinators or call the social programs screening line at 1-877-569-0546 for more information.

'Hoping for public support'

Gillis Palmer said postal workers were getting a lot of supportalready on the picket line from other unions.

"We're hoping for public support and understanding," she said.

She hopes the timing of the strike, as the busy Christmas shopping season gets underway, will give the union bargaining power.

Gillis Palmer admits that with a number of private options now available for shipping packages, the volume of mail Canada Post delivers is not as considerable as it used to be.

Strike pay is "pretty low," she added.

The union had been looking for a wage increase of at least 23per cent over four years, while management offered11 per cent.

"We want a decent wage, we want to have better health benefits, and we want to be able to retire from Canada Post with our pension with dignity," Gillis Palmer said.

"The cost of living has gone up quite a bit."

Small businesses affected

Veseys Seeds in York, P.E.I., uses Canada Post todeliver its popular seed catalogues. In fact, it has 275,000 catalogues at its printer in Ottawa ready to ship throughCanada Post on Monday.

"Itcouldn't have come at a worse time," said John Barrett, Veseys' director of sales, marketing and development. He believes they are Canada Post's largest private business client in Atlantic Canada.

"Those catalogues of course are our source of revenue. Without those reaching homes across Canada, orders won't start happening," he said. Customers are expecting their catalogues in the mail now, he added.

Veseys also ships most of its product by way of Canada Post,so it now has to find alternative shipping methods for orders placed over the internet while the strike is on.

"There's probably nothing that would affect us more than a postal strike," he said. He hopes public pressure will bring about a swift conclusionto the strike.