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<div>Hamilton, Ont. is the second city to be hit by striking postal workers, as part of rotating work stoppages across the country.
Workers in Hamilton walked off the job at 11:45 p.m. local time Friday and are expected to be out until Sunday night.
That's after postal workers in Winnipeg walked off the job Thursday at midnight for a 24-hour strike after rejecting last-minute contract proposals by Canada Post.
"Negotiations are ongoing. Canada Post has not yet responded to the proposals we gave to them Friday," Denis Lemelin, national president of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) said to CBC News on Saturday. "Canada Post may respond today or tomorrow, we don't know. But we'll make decisions [concerning rotating strikes] based on that."
The union said some processing centres and corporate offices will be shut down during the Hamilton walk-out.
Mark Platt, head of CUPW in Hamilton, said the corporation is not suffering losses and is trying to make more profits off the backs of workers.
"Even in the year 2009, when the economy was down, they made a profit," Platt told CBC News. "We haven't had a new agreement in 16 years and they've had a profit in the last nine."
Canada Post said it remains committed to negotiating a deal that is "fair and reasonable without causing the corporation to become a drain on the taxpayers."
"We also believe that the union's strike activity is completely unnecessary," said corporation spokesperson Anick Losier in an email to CBC News on Saturday.
"We are at the table and ready to negotiate."
Losier said mail in Hamilton is expected to be disrupted on Monday because mail that arrived in Hamilton on Thursday and Friday for delivery will be delayed by one day.
In Winnipeg, it was a different story, with Canada Post spokesperson Jon Hamilton saying Friday it was "business as usual" as the corporation kept its Winnipeg operations going despite the strike.
"I just don't want people to think we'll shut things down during the union's rotating strikes," Hamilton said in an email.
On Friday, the president of CUPW clarified the reasons for the strike.
"We want to continue to put pressure on Canada Post and really force the corporation to resolve the concrete problems for workers on the work floor," Denis Lemelin said.
"We cannot agree to work in conditions that are not safe."
Winnipeg was chosen for the first strike activity because it was the first city to be affected by Canada Post's modernization program, which Lemelin said causes safety concerns and has resulted in a 15 per cent increase in injuries among workers, as well as a sharp decline in customer service.
New methods include requiring letter carriers, who walk on average 15 kilometres a day, sometimes in bad weather, to carry multiple bundles on their routes instead of just one. Inside workers stand for eight-hour shifts at new machines that are twice as fast at processing the mail.
In an interview with CBC News, Hamilton defended the new methods and said the Crown corporation has met almost weekly with the union over these changes since 2008.
"The equipment we're bringing in and have brought in and using successfully is used safely by postal systems around the world and has been for years," he said.
"The methods of carrying mail in two bundles rather than just one is used by 200,000 letter carriers in the U.S. every single day and done safely. It wouldn't have been continued for 20 years if that wasn't safe."
In a news release Friday, Labour Minister Lisa Raitt said she was concerned about the effect a strike would have on Canadians and businesses across the country.
"Our government is disappointed that the parties have so far been unable to reach an agreement and that the union has felt it necessary to begin strikes.
Workers in Hamilton walked off the job at 11:45 p.m. local time Friday and are expected to be out until Sunday night.
That's after postal workers in Winnipeg walked off the job Thursday at midnight for a 24-hour strike after rejecting last-minute contract proposals by Canada Post.
"Negotiations are ongoing. Canada Post has not yet responded to the proposals we gave to them Friday," Denis Lemelin, national president of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) said to CBC News on Saturday. "Canada Post may respond today or tomorrow, we don't know. But we'll make decisions [concerning rotating strikes] based on that."
The union said some processing centres and corporate offices will be shut down during the Hamilton walk-out.
Mark Platt, head of CUPW in Hamilton, said the corporation is not suffering losses and is trying to make more profits off the backs of workers.
"Even in the year 2009, when the economy was down, they made a profit," Platt told CBC News. "We haven't had a new agreement in 16 years and they've had a profit in the last nine."
Canada Post said it remains committed to negotiating a deal that is "fair and reasonable without causing the corporation to become a drain on the taxpayers."
"We also believe that the union's strike activity is completely unnecessary," said corporation spokesperson Anick Losier in an email to CBC News on Saturday.
"We are at the table and ready to negotiate."
Losier said mail in Hamilton is expected to be disrupted on Monday because mail that arrived in Hamilton on Thursday and Friday for delivery will be delayed by one day.
In Winnipeg, it was a different story, with Canada Post spokesperson Jon Hamilton saying Friday it was "business as usual" as the corporation kept its Winnipeg operations going despite the strike.
"I just don't want people to think we'll shut things down during the union's rotating strikes," Hamilton said in an email.
On Friday, the president of CUPW clarified the reasons for the strike.
"We want to continue to put pressure on Canada Post and really force the corporation to resolve the concrete problems for workers on the work floor," Denis Lemelin said.
"We cannot agree to work in conditions that are not safe."
Winnipeg was chosen for the first strike activity because it was the first city to be affected by Canada Post's modernization program, which Lemelin said causes safety concerns and has resulted in a 15 per cent increase in injuries among workers, as well as a sharp decline in customer service.
New methods include requiring letter carriers, who walk on average 15 kilometres a day, sometimes in bad weather, to carry multiple bundles on their routes instead of just one. Inside workers stand for eight-hour shifts at new machines that are twice as fast at processing the mail.
In an interview with CBC News, Hamilton defended the new methods and said the Crown corporation has met almost weekly with the union over these changes since 2008.
"The equipment we're bringing in and have brought in and using successfully is used safely by postal systems around the world and has been for years," he said.
"The methods of carrying mail in two bundles rather than just one is used by 200,000 letter carriers in the U.S. every single day and done safely. It wouldn't have been continued for 20 years if that wasn't safe."
In a news release Friday, Labour Minister Lisa Raitt said she was concerned about the effect a strike would have on Canadians and businesses across the country.
"Our government is disappointed that the parties have so far been unable to reach an agreement and that the union has felt it necessary to begin strikes.
