“Can we just race down the highway? Rob a bank? Steal from a store? Of course not. How then can the government pass legislation that is against our Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms?” Danny Cavanagh on legislating postal workers engaged in rotating strikes back to work.

Some 700 Canada Post workers, who provide mail service in the urban parts of HRM and from Lake Charlotte to Hubbards, walked off the job today. When I visited the picket line on Almon Street I assumed that the job action would be part of a series of rotating one-day strikes across Canada. That’s not the case, the Canadian Union of Postal Workers strike action in the Nova Local that began on Monday, November 12, 2018 at 8:00 pm will continue until further notice, a media release announces. I updated the article to reflect that change.

Frequent contributor Judy Haiven joined the striking postal workers on the Almon Street picket line for a bit this morning. CUPW’s fight for just wages, better benefits, pay equity, safe work and against bullying in the workplace helps us all, she writes.  

Whether it’s postal banking, grocery delivery, affordable broadband internet access in communities that currently lack it, and postal-worker check in on seniors so that they can live longer in their own homes, postal workers have been pushing for better postal services for everyone, writes postal worker Mike Keefe.

Seven unions will file to be added to the partial review of Bill 148 by the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal initiated by the Nova Scotia government. This was the announcement at this morning’s joint news conference, that also served to push back on the government’s narrative on the legislation.

The Canadian Union of Postal Workers, probably more than any other Canadian union, has asked how its workers can become more socially responsible, greener and more accountable to the citizens who ultimately own Canada Post. I went to an event that the Friends of Public Services and CUPW organized to talk about some of the options.