Toronto postal workers locked out after one-day strike.
Striking postal workers of Canadian Union of Postal Workers Scarborough local stand outside a distribution centre on Tempo Avenue in North York Wednesday.
Staff photo/MIKE ADLER
Hundreds of striking local postal workers rallied Thursday outside a Scarborough depot for letter carriers, and many were unhappy the federal government plans to legislate them back-to-work next week.
The Crown corporation locked out Canadian Union of Postal Workers' (CUPW) members in Toronto, who had just ended a one-day strike, without a warning at midnight Wednesday morning.
The local - 2,000 mail carriers, sorters and some drivers - has been picketing 17 Canada Post facilities in its area, from the Don River in Toronto and York Region to Ajax.
Despite the strike, Scarborough local president Mike Duquette said regular government cheques for Canada Pension, Old Age Security, veteran's benefits and provincial workers' compensation will still be delivered Monday, though other benefits may not be because the cheques weren't printed in time.
Duquette said CUPW members rallying outside the Progress Avenue building aren't happy about plans for the legislation. "They know (the federal government) are about to stick it to us," he said.
The legislation, even if introduced on Monday, is unlikely to take effect before Thursday or Friday of next week, said Duquette.
In a press release, Canada Post said it had "no choice" except to lock out its employees after 12 days of costly rotating strikes across the country, and added there had been no progress for weeks in its negotiations with CUPW.
"I haven't seen this attitude from Canada Post since the 1970s," said Duquette, a postal worker for 35 years.
He said Canada Post has not attempted to move mail past pickets and he has heard the Crown corporation plans to seal red mail collection boxes so no more can go into the system.
Outside a sorting hub just west of Victoria Park Avenue, Tim Hamilton had placed a towel under his baseball cap to protect his ears from the sun.
CUPW had been staging rotating one-day strikes to slow mail delivery but not stop it, he said on Wednesday. "Now, none of the public gets any service, unfortunately."
Hamilton said his seven years with the postal service have been great, but "as contracts come up, things get a little tenser."
Like others on the picket line, he said he said he still felt both sides could work things out.