NEWS PHOTO GILLIAN SLADE
Rotating postal strikes reaches Medicine Hat on Monday with Canada Post workers walking the picket line outside the post office on Kipling Street.
gslade@medicinehatnews.com @MHNGillianSlade
Striking postal workers walked the picket line in Medicine Hat on Monday while a row of Canada Post vehicles stood idle in the parking lot.
The strike is about “overburdening of workers” across the country, said Doris Salmaso, president of the local chapter #776 of Canadian Union of Postal Workers.
“We want health and safety regulations to stop overburdening,” said Salmaso who was walking the picket line on Kipling Street at the post office.
The increase in the number of parcels, believed to be a result of online shopping, has increased the time it takes to do a route. It consistently means staff are having to work up to 10 hours a day on an ongoing basis. In general there is overtime pay but workers would rather have regular shifts with overtime being unusual.
Postal workers who were hired prior to 2013 earn $26 an hour while those hired since then get $19 an hour.
