By: Francella Fiallos
Credit: Sam Heaton
Postal workers and their supporters took their concerns over Canada Post’s announcement to end door-to-door mail delivery and eliminate over 6,000 jobs straight to the federal government, marching from Dundonald Park to Parliament Hill on Jan. 26.
The rally is only the beginning of an effort to preserve a vital public service, said Mike Palacek, national union representative at the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW).
Palacek believes that the end of home delivery services signals a desire from the Harper government for a different vision of Canada altogether.
“This is just one aspect of a broadening scheme of privatization,” he said.
The current Conservative government has been notorious for increasingly privatizing services and institutions.
Health-care services, municipal and wastewater systems, and Jasper National Park, for example, have all been subject to privatization under Harper’s mandate, according to the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.
Canada Post has claimed projections of falling revenue led to its decision to cut up to 8,000 workers and force people to retrieve their mail from community boxes.
But, Palacek asserted, this financial picture could not be further from the truth.
“Canada Post has only lost money once this century,” he said, and “returned a billion dollars of profit this past year.”
In fact, there is a growing need for mail services as consumers increasingly rely on online shopping.
An end to door-to-door delivery would place a heavy burden on those who want to receive parcels on their doorstep.
There are also ramifications for specific demographics, Palacek said.
Senior citizens and people with disabilities would be especially disadvantaged by the Canada Post cuts.
Palacek encouraged people to contact their local MP or Prime Minister Harper over the elimination of door-to-door mail service.
“I’ve gone so far to challenge (my MP) John Baird to a public debate,” he said.
Baird has not responded to the request. According to Palacek, Baird’s staffers have dodged him whenever he has tried to contact the Ottawa West-Nepean representative’s constituency and parliamentary office.
But public support for postal workers and home delivery has been overwhelming, said Palacek.
With demonstrations happening around the clock while volunteers knock on doors in their neighbourhoods, the future of Canada Post is far from settled.
This article first appeared in the Leveller Vol. 6, No. 4 (Jan/Feb 2014).
