The Acting President of the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities (SARM) welcomed news of Canada Post workers set to return to work Tuesday after being on strike for about one month.
Bill Huber says rural residents rely more on Canada Post compared to residents who live in large, urban centres where there are alternative courier services.
“There’s still a lot of things that come in the mail and a lot of people still pay bills with a check and mail it,” Huber said.
After two days of hearings over the weekend to determine whether a deal between Canada Post and the Canadian Union of Postal Workers can be reached by year’s end, the Canada Industrial Relations Board ruled an impasse. The Board has instructed about 55-thousand postal workers to return to work under their existing agreements, which have been extended to May so bargaining can continue.
This also comes after Federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon said last week negotiations had been “going in the wrong direction”. MacKinnon also said he would appoint an inquiry commission to examine why negotiations have been so far apart and to come up with recommendations by May 15 on how a new agreement can be reached. Canada Post agreed to give workers a 5 per cent wage increase, retroactive to the day after the collective agreements expired.
Huber noted a little over a week ago SARM sent a letter to the Federal Labour Minister about their concerns of a prolonged strike at Canada Post. When asked if there had been conversations within SARM about having alternative services, such as FedEx or Purolator, in rural Saskatchewan to avoid future service disruptions, Huber’s answer was no.
“We haven’t really thought of anything moving forward to alternative services to replace the postal service. I just hope that we can have a long-term agreement and the postal service stays in place ’cause I think it’s crucial for rural Saskatchewan because of the remote distances of so many of our municipalities.”
Workers began their strike on November 15 over issues such as wages and job security.