Strike vote for Windsor postal workers

About 480 Windsor postal workers will vote on whether or not to strike on Aug. 23.

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The union and Canada Post have been in negotiations since December 2017. Phil Lyons, the president of Local 630, which represents the workers said there has been more than 100 meetings since the start of negotiations.

"There's been very little progress," he said. "We've signed off on, I think, one article so far."

The union felt it needed to step up the pressure with Canada Post to get things moving, said Lyons.

"We really think that they're at a stalemate," he said. "Canada Post isn't taking this seriously."

Union wants issues resolved

The union has multiple issues it wants the company to address, including a social steward program that would help workers with mental health issues.

"There's been suicides across the country and we're hoping as part of this program we can stop that and get people the help they need," Lyons said.

Also improvements to services, like postal banking and providing community power, an initiative to green the post office by implementing hybrid vehicles for their fleet and putting solar panels on their buildings.

The corporation wants a defined contribution plan for pensions. The union would like pensioners to know exactly what they would receiveevery month, but Lyons said that isn't possible if it is a defined contribution plan.

Health and safety improvements are on the list, as is forced overtime. The union wants safeguards in place so members can not be required to do it.

"Right now we're forced to work overtime for the letter carrier division and it's really taking a toll on our members some of them are working 50, 60 hours a week," Lyons said.

Votes will be counted on Sept. 9, with the strike date starting 12:01 a.m. Sept. 26. At that point, Canada Post could lock out the union, or the union could notify Canada Post there would be strike action, said Lyons.

"If something doesn't pick up, it certainly doesn't look good."