The Chief Shop Steward for the union which represents postal workers in the province says Canada Post is trying to move towards a temporary workforce and are not filling job vacancies when they become available.

Craig Dyer says there are about 10 open positions on the books right now but nobody is being promoted. This has a lot of the workforce frustrated as many want to be advancing their careers.

A demonstration has been planned by workers on Thursday to voice their concerns about the situation.

Dyer says how temporary call in employees were treated in the aftermath of the state of emergency was a real tipping point.

Regular and determinate staff, as well as temporary workers on a long-term assignment all got paid, but the temporary call in workers did not. He notes some of these people are working between 20 and 40 hours a week. He believes it affirmed to workers that such treatment isn’t good enough.

Dyer says there are provisions in place to prevent permanent jobs from being taken away.

For example, the collective agreement states they have to minimize the temporary workforce and have permanent positions, but those provisions, according to Dyer, are not being adhered to and workers are frustrated.

He says Canada Post is “dangling a carrot” for the workers, and after so long of not getting a permanent position the temporary call in staff are becoming angry with the employer. Dyer says they have every right to be frustrated.

Still Working Through Backlog of Mail

Meanwhile, Dyer says workers are making headway with the backlog of mail that was created from Snowmageddon, and will be watching today’s weather system very closely. He notes that workers were in on Sunday continuing to plug away at the mail that needs to be delivered, and that now Canada Post staff are only about one to two days behind on delivery.

As for whether today’s system will create more backlog, Dyer says workers will be exercising caution.

It all hinges on how fast the mailboxes can be cleared of snow. He says workers will be using their judge in order to do things safely.