1 message, followed by 2 news items:
(1)------------------------------------
Date: Thu, 4 Dec 1997 09:16:34 -0900
From: Marie Murphy <mamm1@NSH.LIBRARY.NS.CA>
Subject: Re: Postal strike in Canada update (2 messages)
Postal workers will be back to work as of noon today, Dec 4th.
Marie D. Murphy
Serials Supervisor
Technical Services
Halifax Regional Library
mamm1@office.nsh.library.ns.ca
Phone (902)-869-4425
(2)-------------------------------------
Date: Thu, 4 Dec 1997 11:16:34
From: Birdie MacLennan <bmaclenn@zoo.uvm.edu>
Subject: Postal strike in Canada over
FYI. Two news items from Canada regarding the end of the postal strike
follow. They are forwarded from today's online editions of (1) _The
Montreal Gazette_ and (2) _Le Devoir_. --bml
(1)-------
from _The Montreal Gazette_
http://www.montrealgazette.com/PAGES/971204canada1.html
December 4, 1997
Postal strike over but union warns mail may get lost
by Katherine Wilton and Mark Dunn, The Gazette/Canadian Press
You can start mailing those Christmas cards anytime.
After a bitter two-week strike, postal workers facing a government
back-to-work order have decided to return to their jobs today at noon.
Canada Post began unsealing mail boxes yesterday and will resume mail
delivery to homes and community mail boxes as soon as employees return,
said spokesman Johanne Hall�.
But in Ottawa, union leader Darrell Tingley said "the struggle is not
over.'' Mail will be processed without stamps until the end of the month
and corporate correspondence could be sent to the wrong address, he
suggested.
Workers will return at noon local times "shouting and screaming" a message
to Canada Post that things won't be rosy on the shop floor, said Tingley,
president of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers.
Tingley warned corporate Canada that a massive backlog of mail waiting to
be processed could lead to mistakes.
"I don't know where their (corporate) mail will go," he said. "Something
supposed to go to Vancouver could end up in Taiwan. I just really don't
know where the mail is going to go. Machines might make some mistakes."
Public Works Minister Alfonso Gagliano appealed to postal workers not to
break the law when they return to work.
"I believe the workers will respect the law and I don't think that they
will entertain those illegal acts," Gagliano said. "I believe they will
perform their duties as required."
Canada Post spokesman John Caines said asking Canadians to break the law
by not using postage is an "irresponsible approach" by the CUPW to vent
workers' frustration.
"He's inviting Canadians to break the law and he's asking his members to
cover it up," said Caines. "We're not anticipating that the work force
will participate. They know better."
The bill to end the two-week strike went through the Commons in one day on
Tuesday and was debated yesterday in the Senate, where it was expected to
be passed.
Tingley said workers would return to their jobs en masse regardless of the
outcome of the vote.
"The struggle is not over, the struggle just continues on another phase,"
he said to chants and applause from union members.
In Montreal, a union leader predicted that relations between workers and
managers will be strained.
"If we have to go back to work, we will go back with our heads held high,"
Andr� Frappier, president of the union's Montreal local, told strikers
yesterday afternoon during a rally designed to boost workers' sagging
spirits.
"We are telling our members to do the job as usual, but I can tell you the
atmosphere will be very tense."
Although Frappier said the union won't be using pressure tactics, he too
suggested that some employees might process and deliver mail with
insufficient postage.
"I think if our members don't see a stamp on an envelope, they won't care
and they will deliver it anyway."
Canada Post's 45,000 unionized employees went on strike Nov. 19 over
wages, changes to letter carriers' routes and job security as the
Christmas holiday crunch approached.
By obeying the law, union members and leaders avoid hefty fines. Postal
workers who defy the legislation face fines of up to $1,000 a day, union
leaders $50,000 and CUPW itself daily fines of up to $100,000.
Labor Minister Lawrence MacAulay announced last Friday he would order an
end to the strike after mediation failed to get the two sides any closer
to an agreement.
The legislation imposes a 5.15-per-cent raise over three years. It also
gives both sides three months to settle issues such as job security and
plans to overhaul the delivery system, which the union says would cost
4,000 jobs.
Union leaders say the imposed raise is less than what was on the
bargaining table before talks collapsed last week.
The postal workers' decision to return was welcome news for Montreal
charities and businesses which have been crippled by the two-week strike.
Donations to the Sun Youth Organization were down 70 per cent and the
co-ordinator of the The Gazette Christmas Fund, Carol Ohlin, said
donations were down 30 per cent from last year.
Sid Stevens, Sun Youth's executive director, said the postal strike
crippled them. "Last year on Dec. 2 we had received $17,189 in cheques and
cash," Stevens said.
"This year on the same day we had received $3,500 from people who brought
money in. We have 16,000 letters to send out."
Several postal workers who attended yesterday's Montreal rally accused
Canada Post of negotiating in bad faith because it knew the government
would pass back-to-work legislation.
"They knew they didn't have to give up anything because the government
would back them up," said Andr� Rose, who delivers mail in Boucherville.
"We have a right to strike, but the bosses knew the government would take
it away."
Postal worker Daniel Roch said some workers want to defy the law, but
can't afford to pay the $1,000 fine they would face. "We don't have that
kind of money just sitting around," he said. "This is the fourth time they
have forced us back to work and we are fed up."
(2)-----
from _Le Devoir_ http://www.ledevoir.com/
Le mercredi 3 d�cembre 1997 -
21h30
Les postiers reviennent au travail
Manon Cornellier
Les postiers l'ont d�cid�: la gr�ve aux Postes prendra fin d�s midi
aujourd'hui. � la m�me heure commencera par contre un nouveau moyen de
pression: la distribution inconditionnelle du courrier, qu'il soit
suffisamment affranchi ou non. Frustr�s de devoir retourner au travail
sous le coup d'une loi sp�ciale que le S�nat devait adopter hier soir, les
postiers ont choisi de s'y plier, mais � leur fa�on.
