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.