More cuts coming at Canada Post

OTTAWA, April 9 /CNW Telbec/ - In the wake of last week's contracting out of call centres and the elimination of more than 300 jobs, Canada Post has announced further dramatic changes to its operations in Victoria, B.C., Kitchener, Ontario, and Moncton, New Brunswick.

On April 8th, the Crown corporation officially notified the Canadian Union of Postal Workers of its decision to restructure in the affected communities. For example, in Kitchener, the bulk of parcel operations are being relocated to the Gateway processing plant in Toronto, while in Moncton, local services are being moved to Saint John. In Victoria, mail will be shipped to Vancouver for sorting.

At stake are hundreds of postal worker jobs, many of them held by "temporary" employees who have been with Canada Post for years. The workforce in the Victoria and Kitchener plants alone will be virtually cut in half. The economic impact on the affected communities may add up to millions of dollars.

"Canada Post posts a profit for the fifteenth year in a row and this is what their workers are getting in return," said Denis Lemelin, national president of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers.

"This is an abdication of Canada Post's social responsibility as a publicly owned institution that is supposed to serve the public interest."

CUPW plans to pressure the federal government to live up to its responsibility for the Crown corporation. "The Conservatives are washing their hands of this issue," Lemelin pointed out. Recently, Peter Mackay, MP for Central Nova, shrugged off the closure of the call centre in his riding, saying there was nothing he could do.

"We need jobs in our communities, not jobs outsourced by CEOs," said Lemelin. The union is calling for public support and urging members of the public to contact their MPs.

For further information: Aalya Ahmad, [phone]