Canada Post has confirmed that it is laying off striking postal workers following a union complaint that workers were getting layoff phone calls as a “scare tactic.”
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 the 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 workers should not “panic if (they) receive such a call.”
Canada Post said that “a limited number of employees” have been impacted by the layoffs and that employees who “have been laid off have been contacted directly.”
CUPW did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the number of workers impacted by the layoffs.
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.”
Daniel Tisch, the president and CEO of the Ontario Chamber of Commerce, called the strike “an economic risk to Canada” in a statement Thursday.
“Instead of thriving during the holidays, businesses face delays, damaged reputations, and lost sales,” Tisch wrote.
With files from The Canadian Press.
