It's unclear what the future holds for the approximately 60 Canada Post mail carriers in Prince George, but there will almost certainly be layoffs, according to the local president of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers.
On Wednesday Canada Post announced a five-stage plan to save $900 million -including phasing out home delivery and increasing postage prices (see story page 13).
Tami Brushey, president of Canadian Union of Postal Workers local 812, said if and when the transition away from home delivery happens in Prince George it will be a reduction in good-paying jobs in the community. Canada Post estimates the service change will result in 6,000 to 8,000 positions cuts across the country.
"It's going to cost us jobs in the long run," Brushey said.
For most people currently receiving home delivery it will mean a transition to community mailboxes located throughout the city, Brushey said.
"That doesn't really work for people with mobility issues or seniors," Brushey said. "It's going to be rough. Snow removal around the mailboxes has been a disaster in the North."
Throughout B.C. there has been thousands of issues of community mailboxes being broken into, she added.
There is also security concerns for people collecting their mail at isolated community mailboxes, she said.
"It's a public service that Canadians have that is just being cut," she said. "People are going not going to like it."
Brushey said local postal employees are cynical about the way the announcement was made, the day after Parliament ended its session for the season. Local workers found out about the announcement on the radio, she added -even local managers were in the dark.
In addition to the cut to home delivery, rising postage prices will hurt businesses which rely on mailing catalogs, invoices and other material, she said.
Post office staff were told to pull permanent stamps from the shelves today, she added, leaving only the holiday stamps available for the busy season leading up to Christmas.
"The way this was rolled out seems to be a disaster for Canada Post," she said.
John Bail, Canadian Union of Postal Workers national director for the Pacific region, said the the proposed layoffs amount to about 16 per cent of Canada Post's workforce.
"They need to resolve their problem, increase revenue," Bail said.
The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives issued a report in October calling for the development of postal banking in Canada, he said. Postal banking is a system in which national postal services offer some financial services - currently Germany, Japan, France, Brazil, South Korea and several other countries operate postal banking services.
A postal banking system would provide services to many people - especially in rural areas -who don't have easy access to a conventional bank, as well as increase revenue for Canada Post, Bail said.
