Canada Post workers in Regina hit the picket lines as strike begins

Canada Post workers took to the picket lines on Friday morning in Regina.

The sound of horns honking rippled along Saskatchewan Drive downtown as members of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers walked the picket line, bundled up in the chilly weather.

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Nearly all of the striking workers were wearing white signs that read “CUPW on Strike.”

Jeremy Thomas, president of CUPW Local 820, said the union has been getting plenty of support from the public on the first day of the strike. (Abby Zeiverink/980 CJME)

The group was in good spirits on the first day of the strike, waving at people who honked their horns as they drove by.

Regina CUPW Local 820 President Jeremy Thomas said the union has been getting a lot of support.

“You’ve heard lots of people honking for us out here,” he said.

“The support from the public has been great.”

Thomas explained that the postal workers are on strike because the union and Canada Post have been in negotiations for over a year, but the union’s demands have not yet been met.

“We’re fighting for better wages. Also, Canada Post wants to take away a lot of benefits from our new hires. They want to take away the defined-benefit pension plan. They want to take away weeks of holidays for us,” he said.

“Canada Post is crying that they’re poor, that they’re losing money, which isn’t true. They’re hiding strategic investments like building new mail-processing plants. There’s one in Scarborough they built last year that cost  $470 million. They invested in fleets of new vehicles that cost between $100 million and $125 million last year as well.”

A few dozen Canada Post workers took to the picket lines Friday morning in Regina. (Abby Zeiverink/980 CJME)

Thomas said that when they held their strike vote, 95 per cent of the union’s members were in support of the job action.

“I think the feeling with everyone is that they want Canada Post to come to the table and negotiate fairly,” Thomas said. “No union is going to accept the rollbacks that Canada Post is proposing to our union.”

While an immediate resolution would be ideal, he stressed that the workers will not back down.

“We will be out here as long as it takes to get a fair bargained collective agreement,” Thomas said.