CUPW Local 758 members picketing around Kamloops amid nationwide Canada Post strike

KAMLOOPS — Kamloops postal workers have set up picket lines around the city Friday (Nov. 15) as part of a nationwide Canada Post strike.

The Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) issued 72-hour strike notice earlier this week. However, CUPW and Canada Post did not reach an agreement before the deadline, putting CUPW in a legal position to begin strike activity.

Local members say key bargaining issues are centered around wages, benefits, health and safety, and pension rates.

CUPW Local 758 Vice President Aaron Arseneau says CUPW extended its contract with Canada Post in 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic, hoping that the next round of bargaining could result in upgrades.

“We don’t want to have to picket but we will to get what we deserve and what we need,” CUPW Local 758 Vice President Aaron Arseneau tells CFJC. “We want to be out there delivering the mail — that’s what we love to do. Christmas is coming up, we know Black Friday is coming up, and we want to deliver these things for Canadians. We want to make sure families have everything they ordered for their kids on Christmas morning and we love delivering that stuff so that’s what we want to do. But we cannot go through another Christmas season on the contract we have, and Canada Post needs to sit down and negotiate.”

Letters and packages will not be processed or delivered for the duration of the national strike, and no new items are going to be accepted until the labour dispute is resolved. Arseneau says local picket lines around the city will stay up as long as needed.

“Starting at 9:00 p.m. [Thursday] night (Nov. 14), we came down and set up our lines to stop all the trucks and all the mail from moving into and out of the Kamloops mail processing plant,” explains Arseneau. “And now we are set up here 24 hours a day. We’re set up at the Kamloops delivery centre and downtown on Seymour Street at the post office down there — and we’re going to be doing this 24 hours a day, all weekend and all next week. As long as it takes.”

Canada Post released a statement earlier today confirming customers will experience delays as a result of the strike.