100 Mile loses three permanent employees as Canada Post lays off striking employees.
Pierre Mayette, President of the CUPW 854 in Williams Lake, says only those three employees have been laid off.
“We’ll have to see what the future holds,” Mayette says. “In one case, the employee was not given a notice. They found out because they reached out to the HR Department. The other two were given calls from the corporation.”
Mayette says that Service Canada told the employees they could not seek Employment Insurance because they were already on strike.
He adds that as of yet, none of the Williams Lake employees have been laid off.
In Quesnel, CUPW 816 President Echo Law says no permanent employees have been terminated. However, part-time employees have been affected.
“Some of our casual employees have been told that their long-term assignments have been temporarily ended.”
Both Law and Mayette say that the workers’ legal teams are looking into the lay offs. According to the Canada Labour Code, the Crown corporation cannot terminate an employee while they are on labour dispute.
“It’s a scare tactic,” says Law. “They say it’s a temporary measure, but it’s just a lot of poor behaviour on their part. It’s ways to punish people.”
This week marks two-weeks since the Postal workers went on strike, and negotiations have “grinded to a halt.”
A special mediator was assigned, but has temporiraly suspended talks between the union and corporation. Canada’s labour minister has said that he will not step in and force binding arbitration. Law says this is “good news” for the union.
“We’re not interested in back to work legislation and binding arbitration… We’re trying to protect the middle class and full time jobs with benefits and pensions.”
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