Canada's 55,000 Postal Strikers Are Refusing to Throw New Hires Under the Bus

[Omaha Steve]

Canadian postal workers are on strike since November 15. Starting wages have increased only 6.7 percent since 2006, while workers lost about 50 percent of their purchasing power due to inflation. Photo: CUPW

November 22, 2024 / Danielle Smith

Roughly 55,000 postal workers in Canada are on strike, fighting to raise their wages, protect their work, and shape the future of Canada Post. They’ve been in negotiations since November 2023, after agreeing to a two-year contract extension in 2021 due to Covid.

“We definitely don’t want our jobs to become a race to the bottom,” said Tracey Langille, president of Canadian Union of Postal Workers Local 548 in Hamilton, Ontario. “We want solid jobs, living wages, decent benefits, and the ability to retire with dignity as well.”

Unlike their counterparts in the U.S., most postal workers in Canada are covered by the same union. CUPW, which also represents other kinds of laborers like cleaners and warehouse workers, has two bargaining units of postal workers: one is the Rural and Suburban Mail Carriers, and the other is the Urban Operations.

In late October, CUPW announced that both of those units had voted overwhelmingly in favor of striking if there wasn’t enough movement from Canada Post at the table. The workers ultimately walked out on November 15, unsatisfied by management’s offers.

FULL story: https://labornotes.org/2024/11/canadas-55000-postal-strikers-are-refusing-throw-new-hires-under-bus

[MichMan]

1. Inflation in Canada was 50% ?

How could Trudeau be re elected under those conditions ?