CANADA—As of press time Monday, it appears that any disruption to Canada Post service is off, at least for now, meaning that your Manitoulin Expositor, Manitoulin West Recorder and Manitoulin Extra will resume their normal publishing days and means of delivery.
On Sunday evening, July 10, Canada Post Corporation issued a notice stating that it was revoking its Monday, July 11 lockout (notice of the lockout had been given 72 hours earlier, on July 7), this after the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) had asked for a 30-day ‘cooling off’ period—a suggestion to which Canada Post had responded that it would only accept the cooling off time if the union would agree to binding arbitration if, after the 30 days, the two parties could not find common ground. The union had previously turned down binding arbitration and reiterated this position prior to the employer’s lockout notice. Talks began again on Monday with CUPW stating that it has no plans to issue a 72-hour notice of work disruption.
At issue are the employee pension plan and wage parity between rural and urban mail carriers, with rural, mostly female, carriers asking to be paid by the hour, like their urban counterparts, who are mostly male.
Canada Post is looking to change its pension plan to see new employees covered under a defined contribution plan as opposed to a defined benefit plan, meaning employees would no longer be guaranteed with a set payment upon retirement.
Last Thursday, July 7, Manitoulin Publishing Co. enacted its emergency delivery plan to get the Manitoulin West Recorder and Manitoulin Extra to its customers. This acted as a test run in case of strike or lockout and meant that those living in Manitoulin’s towns and First Nations would receive their paper and Extra at a set place of business, as had been advertised in the publications over the previous weeks, and those delivered on rural routes would either receive them in their end-of-lane mailbox or in a bin found at their usual community mailbox.
This week delivery will resume as usual, through Canada Post, for our subscribers.
