Public Service Alliance of Canada BC

OTTAWA – Canada Post is misleading employees and the public about a ratification vote on the corporation’s last offer, according to the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC). The union maintains that Canada Post made false allegations about the vote in a message posted to employees on the corporation’s website yesterday.

“Canada Post’s complaint is completely without merit and nothing but a shameful abuse of the taxpayer-funded processes of the Canada Industrial Relations Board,” says John Gordon, National President of PSAC, representing the 2,100 administrative and technical employees who have been on strike for 29 days. “More than two out of every three workers who voted rejected the employer’s last offer. Our members came out in droves to send their employer a message that they won’t back down until their sick leave and family-related leave is protected.”

One of the key issues that PSAC members chose to strike over is a plan that Canada Post is proposing that would strip workers of their ability to accumulate sick days and then put them at the mercy of a private insurance company when they are ill and need to access short-term disability benefits.

Rejection of the employer’s latest offer by the membership strengthens the union’s mandate to negotiate a collective agreement that will better protect the workers’ sick leave and family-related leave, according to PSAC.

“Canada Post insisted that we take their last offer to our membership for a vote, and we did,” says Gordon. “Our members voted ‘no’ and stood strong in face of Canada Post’s bullying – even as temperatures have dropped to minus 30 in some parts of the country. Our members are determined to fight for basic workplace rights such as sick leave. How long will Canada Post leave them out in the cold?”

PSAC maintains that Canada Post has chosen to bully its employees and question the legitimacy of the vote, in an effort to avoid taking the real action necessary to resolve the strike.

“Canada Post is simply trying to wage its public relations war on the backs of Canadian tax payers with its bogus allegations,” says Gordon. “It’s time for them to stop squandering public dollars in court and start bargaining in good faith. Their employees’ health is depending on it.”