Rotating strikes being conducted by Canada Post employees hit Red Deer on Thursday, where about 60 employees hit the picket line.
The job action, which included workers in Innisfail, Stettler, Olds, Rocky Mountain House and other nearby centres, was expected to end at 6 a.m. Friday.
“We just found out yesterday we had a mediator that’s been appointed, and we’re hoping with that assistance, that we can finally get some headway on some of the negotiations,” Barbara Lilly, president of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers, Local 818, said at the picket line outside the Canada Post building at 6010 67A St.
About 170 Red Deer workers participated in the job action, including carriers, inside workers and clerks.
“We want fair wages and better benefits,” Lilly said.
Canada Post has offered a 1.5 per cent wage increase, but the inflation rate is more than two per cent, she said.
The union and the postal service have been unable to reach new collective agreements despite 10 months of negotiations.
Canada Post spokesman Jon Hamilton said in a statement the Crown corporation has made “significant offers” to the union — which include increased wages, job security and improved benefits — and has not asked for any concessions in return.
He said Canada Post is working to restore service and eliminate any mail and parcel backlogs.
Red Deer union member John Petch said it’s difficult being on the picket line, but there had been great support from the public.
“Lots of people honk when they go by. Nobody has said anything bad to us,” Petch said just before a bus driver honked as he drove by.
Fellow union member Judy Charron agreed it was difficult being on the picket line, but said morale was good.
“We’re all in the same boat and we know what everyone has been going through,” said Charron, who has been working as a rural and suburban mail carrier for four months and was walking her first picket line.
“I feel people before me fought for as much as we have now, so I do feel it’s my duty to stand up and fight for the people coming after me.”
She said nobody wanted to strike, especially rural and suburban mail carriers.
“We don’t get paid by the hour, so if we have double the workload, we still get paid the same amount of money,” Charron said.
Dondee Marance said it’s her third Canada Post strike.
“We’ve got to fix some things and this is the only way we finally get their attention. Usually, they drag it out until we do something like this. It’s good that we’re here finally so we finally get some action,” Marance said.
szielinski@reddeeradvocate.com
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