Canada Post employees in four cities are walking picket lines on the first day of rotating strikes and the city says it has made arrangements to deal with any disruption in postal service here.
Members of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers began a series of rotating strikes in Halifax, Windsor, Edmonton and Victoria on Monday morning.
Last week, the union filed a notice to strike after months of negotiations failed to renew collective agreements.
The key sticking points are wage increases and an increase in workload because of the growing demand of online shopping.
The union says the rotating strikes won't halt mail delivery but it will cause delays and that mail delivery will continue in other parts of the country.
"We'll be on the line for 24 hours,” said Nancy Dodsworth, from CUPW. “We will all go back into work, resume our duties and another city or other cities will be chosen by our national executive board and they will go out and do the next 24 hours.”
The union says it will continue to deliver pension and social assistance cheques.
The city has a plan in place if Calgary’s mail service is disrupted and officials say they are working with an external courier service to deliver ‘critical material’ to Calgarians and businesses.
Most city services can be accessed and paid for online including:
- Registering a business
- Applying for business licences and related permits
- Paying parking tickets
- Requesting a TIPP application
- Booking a tee time
- Renewing pet licences
- Applying and paying for home improvement project permits
Payments for utility bills, property or business taxes can also be made through most online banking systems.
"We enacted the same contingency plans in 2016 when there was a similar situation and in 2011 there was a lockout by Canada Post, which impacted mail delivery services, and we had the same contingency in place and to our knowledge citizens received the services that they needed," said Ian Lofthouse, Manager, Information Technology at the City of Calgary.
The city says it will not waive penalties for property tax payments if there is a disruption in postal service.
CUPW officials in Calgary say the national executive board picks rotating strike locations and will announce other cities on Monday afternoon but it is not yet know if Calgary will be affected.
(With files from CTVNews.ca)
