Postal workers are hoping to send a message to a local MP that they think Canada Post's plan to phase out home delivery is unacceptable.
Today at 3:30 p.m., members of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) from local 812 and supporters will rally outside of Prince George-Peace River MP Bob Zimmer's office at 1584 Seventh Ave.
"The people I'm speaking to are upset about it, to say the least," said Tami Brushey, CUPW 812 president. "The letter carriers are out talking to people everyday and they're getting feedback."
In December, Canada Post announced they would be seeking to save $900 million with a plan that included phasing out up to 8,000 jobs in urban home delivery and by increasing postage prices. As of March 31, the cost of a stamp will increase from $0.63 to $0.85 if bought in a pack.
"We're speaking with seniors groups, we're speaking with groups with mobility issues, like AiMHi, and we're just letting them know this is going to have a disastrous effect on them," said Brushey.
Every winter, letter carriers suffer a range of injuries such as shattered bones and concussions from slips and falls, said Brushey.
"With the freeze-thaw cycle here in Prince George, right now walking is treacherous every day. And to offload - to steal - in my mind, 8,000 living wage jobs away from Canadian workers, offload that burden onto the people of Canada, there's no reason for it. It's unthinkable," she added.
In a Dec. 13 op-ed, Zimmer said he understood the concern but that "business needs to adapt in order to stay competitive when technology changes the landscape."
"Simply put, the current mail delivery structure cannot support itself," he wrote. "There has been a 25 per cent drop in mail volume since 2008, and Canada Post is losing hundreds of millions of dollars every year."
But Brushey said Zimmer needs to do his homework.
"If he went on the Canada Post website, they do financial reports for every year," she said. "They lost money in 2011 for the first time in 18 years," she said.
And though letter mail is demonstratively down, parcel mail has picked up in a major way, said Brushey.
During the Christmas delivery season, Canada Post said they set a record for parcel delivery, mostly thanks to a boom in online shopping.
Brushey said she has contacted Zimmer's office and left her contact information, but has not yet had any contact with the MP.
"I honestly don't know if Mr. Zimmer's going to be in his office [Wednesday], but there's going to be people there making it pretty plain how they feel about what the Conservative government and Canada Post are doing," she said.
Zimmer is not expected to be in Prince George until next week's natural resources forum.
There are 65 permanent letter carriers working in Prince George and eight casual staff. Canada Post has not said which areas would be hit by the job cuts.
Current conditions for letter carriers are such that there aren't enough to cover routes left vacant by injury or other leave. Brushey said a hiring and transfer freeze has also been in place for months, leaving the current staff forced into overtime.
"So it's a pretty dire situation just being a letter carrier in the city. Notwithstanding the weather and working in the dark when you're being forced out on an unfamiliar route, the ice and the snow conditions, it's not a happy job in the wintertime at any time," said Brushey. "But to offload that kind of dangerous walking to my parents and my grandparents and elderly aunts and uncles and people in wheelchairs, people pushing baby buggies, it's unforgivable."
