this post was submitted on 22 Nov 2024

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128

Workers at Canada Post Are On Strike. Here’s What Postal Workers Are Fighting For. (pressprogress.ca)

submitted 3 days ago by NightOwl@lemmy.ca to c/canada@lemmy.ca

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[–] AlternateRoute@lemmy.ca 24 points 3 days ago (3 children)

Since so many of these leave the details out.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1542q49wzgo

The union wants a 24% pay increase over the next four years - higher than the 11.5% increase proposed by employer Canada Post.

and

The latest strike comes as the Crown corporation deals with big financial losses of C$3bn since 2016, primarily due to the fact that people are sending fewer letters than before.

In its 2023 annual report, the operator said its financial situation is “unsustainable", and had projected that it will run out of cash unless it borrows C$1bn and refinances its existing debt.

[–] healthetank@lemmy.ca 46 points 3 days ago (2 children)

Side note, but I always hate how it's described as "losses". No shit providing mail delivery is a service. It's nice to aim to reduce the cost as much as possible, but when you're looking at something like Canada where there are countless remote and difficult to reach communities, regular communication and parcel delivery is going to cost money

[–] Chip_Rat@lemmy.world 17 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Now now! What would Capitalism say if it heard you?!

[–] Phil_in_here@lemmy.ca 9 points 3 days ago (1 children)

"Ah just let private industry compete. When you have literally hundreds of options, the cream will rise to the top.

Competition is the way of capitalism, so don't turn your back on it or you'll have unaffordable scarcity.

The best thing — oh, hang on, it's the cabal of private corporations. A merger, you say? Glory to the consolidation of wealth! Yeah, of course you can price fix with the rest of the triopoly. It's called 'market price.'

As I was saying, the best thing to do would be to layoff the entire staff, sell everything for pennies on the dollar, and leave everything in the trustworthy hands of private enterprise. They're just better at it."

[–] Chip_Rat@lemmy.world 4 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Can I get an A MEN!!!!!!

[–] Whitebrow@lemmy.world 4 points 2 days ago

Best I got is a Eh men.

[+] AlternateRoute@lemmy.ca -10 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Presumably it should be self sufficient, by charging for some services.. Remember every letter required paid postage.

If everything competing with it has shift work, no benefits and cheaper vehicles. Then something is wrong with us paying for daily delivery of fliers and given out pensions to a low skill job.

[–] healthetank@lemmy.ca 7 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Every letter still requires paid postage. The problem is, if you set the cost to be actual cost incurred, then anywhere remote or rural will be ridiculously expensive, and no one will send stuff, making the packages/letters that do need to be sent even more expensive, and creating a death spiral. It's no different than a million other public services that we pay for despite not using (public rec centers are sponsored in part by taxes despite charging admission/membership fees, daycare facilities get partially paid by the government, universities get some tax money despite the crazy fees we pay, etc).

But regarding the pension, I disagree - I believe that every job should be sufficient for someone to live comfortably on - why do we have jobs if someone can't live on them? And the reason they pay well and have pensions is because they're unionized, aznd have fought for the pay and pension they have.

[–] AlternateRoute@lemmy.ca -1 points 1 day ago

The problem is, if you set the cost to be actual cost incurred, then anywhere remote or rural will be ridiculously expensive

Well I am not saying each letter, more that the system as a whole needs to be making profit in one area to carry the loss in another.. At this point we have way more places to deliver to than people sending regular mail.

I believe that every job should be sufficient for someone to live comfortably on

Looks like Canada post already pays the average or above average and is above living wage in most areas.

https://ca.indeed.com/cmp/Canada-Post/salaries

https://www.livingwage.ca/rates

[–] ikidd@lemmy.world 4 points 2 days ago

Losing almost all the urban Amazon business to Bezos inhouse shipper was a pretty hard blow.

[+] ShadowRam@fedia.io -11 points 3 days ago (3 children)

I really don't understand why they are still delivering mail 'EVERYDAY'

Any snail mail could easily be delivered once a week.

Anything real important that needs to be delivered faster can be (and is already) delivered by courier.

They also need to up their package game.

Take a page out of Amazon and up your logistics game already.

Relying on adverts/junk mail has never been the answer.

[–] Yoddel_Hickory@lemmy.ca 33 points 3 days ago (2 children)

"A page out of Amazon" being underpaid workers in terrible working conditions I assume?

[–] wildbus8979@sh.itjust.works 9 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

That is indeed the direction the management has proposed if CUPW is to be believed (I don't doubt it a second).

[–] ShadowRam@fedia.io -4 points 3 days ago

No. The logistics side of things. Mail Carriers are already being underpaid.

[–] moonbunny@lemmy.world 9 points 3 days ago (1 children)

They’ve already been considering ending daily mail delivery, but they require a legislative amendment by the federal government to allow them to make any of the changes needed to keep their operations afloat. Here’s an article from earlier this year

I doubt it’ll be allowed anytime soon with an election on the horizon, but any sitting government that introduces the changes will be receiving a lot of backlash from opposition and rural residents.

The previous government allowed for community mailboxes to be setup to replace door-to-door delivery to make deliveries more efficient, and that got repealed because the poor elderly folks and people in the middle of nowhere would have to get some exercise to collect their mail. We all know what happened after the liberals got voted in, so I doubt much will change besides Canada post requiring subsidies in order to be able to operate by the very legislation that’s making them lose money.

[–] ShadowRam@fedia.io 0 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Yup, all very valid points.

But I think dropping the daily mail to weekly would be much easier pill to swallow, then forcing people to walk down the street to a box in the rain/snow.

Just think thou, with the subsidies, maybe a bi-weekly visit...

Canada Post could have set themselves up as the defacto last mile delivery service.. they could have been towing along all those amazon deliveries while they were at people's houses dropping off mail anyway.

So much efficiency to be had in the system, and they just ignored the writing on the wall for the past 15 years.

[–] Chip_Rat@lemmy.world 4 points 3 days ago (1 children)

What percentage of Canadians have to walk to a box down the street right now?

I'm curious, because during these discussions there is all this talk about how having to do that will bring down the whole system, will unfairly affect the elderly or disabled. Yet as someone who grew up in a semi-rural setting, 80% of the people I went to school with had to walk (or stop on the drive home) at a green box for their mail. It's a very city centric idea that mail has to come right to your door. And in cities, your communal boxes could be fairly close to your house anyways.....

I am not and don't usually propose cutting services.

I am not suggesting this as a good option now.

But it confuses the hell out of me that people think this would be the end of civilized society.

And I would like to fantasize on a future where Canada Post took over all Amazon deliveries. Forcing Amazon (and the consumer) to pay fair wages to unionized post officers and not abuse temporary "independent contractors". Huge increase in unionized secure jobs...

I like that.

[–] ShadowRam@fedia.io 3 points 2 days ago

What percentage of Canadians have to walk to a box down the street right now?

I'm curious, because during these discussions there is all this talk about how having to do that will bring down the whole system, will unfairly affect the elderly or disabled.

Yeah, I'm with you. In fact, in the town I grew up, we needed to drive down to the Postal Office. And people living in apartment buildings need to stop at their mailbox at the bottom floor.

There's no reason for the 'handful' of cases, Canada Post could still have door delivery for people that apply for it. No different than applying for a Handicap sticker for your car.

It all made sense years ago when mail/letters/newspapers were all being delivered to the door.

But collectively we get nothing in snail mail anymore other than adverts. Just about all billing has moved to automatic or online anyway, and like I said for the rare important paper documents, they don't trust that shit in traditional mail anyway.

[–] corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca 4 points 3 days ago (1 children)

delivering mail ‘EVERYDAY’

You mean 'every day', right?

[–] ShadowRam@fedia.io -4 points 3 days ago

How bout you goto the grocery store.

[–] fourish@lemmy.world 1 points 3 days ago (2 children)

And in the US you can also put outgoing mail in your box and they’ll take it. Super convenient. Why can’t they do that here too since they’re already there?

[–] Nouveau_Burnswick@lemmy.world 5 points 2 days ago

Community mailboxes do this already.

[–] pedz@lemmy.ca 4 points 3 days ago

They did in rural areas 20 years ago. I grew up on a rural road and it was totally a thing to send mail by putting it in the mailbox and raise the flag.

Maybe it's just a rural thing for people with individual mailboxes, or maybe they stopped doing this, but it was possible a few decades ago.