Canada Post workers locked out nationwide
Posted Jun 15, 2011 7:52 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
After almost two weeks of rotating strikes by postal workers, Canada Post has locked out all of its workers nationwide.
Gary Duveau with the Canadian Union of Postal Workers tells 660News that he received calls earlier on Tuesday from several smaller locations around the country saying workers had been locked out.
Canada Post released a statement on Tuesday night saying, “the accelerating decline in volumes and revenue combined with the inability to deliver mail on a timely and safe basis has left the company with no choice but to make this decision.”
Union representatives speculate the lockout may be a way for Canada Post to force the government to introduce back-to-work legislation.
Rotating postal strikes took place in Toronto and Montreal earlier Tuesday. Over 15,000 postal workers were off the job in those cities.
Canada Post spokesperson John Hamilton says the rotating strikes have cost the company about $100-million.
Hamilton says some of that revenue may never return and that the rotating strikes are serving to accelerate the decline of the mail business because they are pushing major customers to go to the competition.
