Canada Post did 'piss poor' job reorganizing routes, workers protest

Postal workers staged a protest outside the sorting facility in St. John's Friday morning against the amount of overtime they've had to work since Canada Post converted to community mailboxes.

Moreover, the union president said the quality of delivery is slipping, as workers struggle to get their work done in an eight-hour day.

"What the corporation is doing is forcing the overtime on the workers and eliminating jobs in our community," said union president Craig Dyer.

Since October, Dyer said 28 positions were eliminated. New routes created have meant upwards of 12-hour days for workers.

"The corporation spent an awful lot of money and flew an awful lot of people into St. John's to reorganize the routes and they did a piss poor job," Dyer said, referencing the reorganization that took place when Canada Post switched from door-to-door delivery to community mailboxes.

"The volumes are so great, that on a daily basis customers are not receiving their mail. The week after Christmas there was one day where 13,000 homes never received their mail, because there was too much work that day, and there wasn't enough workers to do it."

Greg Power, a postal worker who says he has been working overtime since October, said he received a letter for a disciplinary interview because he didn't get his work completed within an eight-hour day.

"It's stressful, and you're working late at night and you don't get to see your family at home and its hard on the body after so many hours," Power said.

Canada Post reviewing process

In a statement Friday afternoon, Canada Post said delivery routes in St. John's were restructured in October to take into account the number of parcels being mailed compared to letters. 

"This was a major change to the way our employees deliver mail and employees have struggled to get all their mail delivered during the allotted time to complete their route," said spokesperson John Caines.

Canada Post acknowledged that employees have been working higher than normal overtime, even though extra staff were brought in over Christmas.

In response to the Dyer's comment that homes did not receive their mail on one occasion, Caines said the union is referring to New Year's Eve.

He said what was not delivered on that Thursday was delivered on Sunday (Jan.3).

"As volumes return to normal, our goal now is to stabilize delivery in the new structure," wrote Caines in an email.

"We are reviewing the process and will be addressing any problems that are identified. During this period we will continue to use available resources to maintain regular delivery."

Dyer said Canada Post is expected to send workers from Ottawa to take a second look at the routes.