Canada Post management has confirmed that it is laying off striking postal workers following a complaint made by the union.
In a statement to the Star, Canada Post said the layoffs are temporary.
“Our business has been significantly impacted leading up to and throughout this labour disruption. We have taken steps to adjust our operations,” Canada Post said. “That means the previously expired collective agreements no longer apply and their terms and conditions of employment for employees have therefore changed.”
The Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) posted in a bulletin Monday that Canada Post had been “calling CUPW members to lay them off.”
Carl Girourard, the union’s national grievance officer, wrote that the calls “are merely a scare tactic” and that their workers should not “panic if you receive such a call.”
Earlier in November, Canada Post issued a lockout notice but said it didn’t intend to lock out employees, instead saying the notice would allow the company to make changes to its operations in order to respond to the effects of a strike.
On Wednesday, federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon said that the special federal mediator was suspending mediated talks between the two parties after Canada Post said talks had “ground to a halt.”
“This pause in mediation activities will hopefully permit the parties to reassess their positions and return to the bargaining table with renewed resolve,” MacKinnon wrote on the social media platform X.
On Thursday, MacKinnon wrote that he spoke with striking CUPW workers in Vancouver to “hear about what is important to them in this dispute.”
With files from The Canadian Press.
