There appears to be no end in sight to the strike paralyzing Canada’s postal system, a fact causing headaches both for B.C. charities and British Columbians waiting for their passports.
Members of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers have been on the picket lines for weeks, calling for higher wages, better medical benefits and changes to the postal service’s use of temporary workers.
The frozen mail service has left Bryan Kurtz with a dilemma. The Revelstoke resident applied for his passport weeks ago, and has learned the travel document is ready for pickup at the post office, but now inaccessible.
He’s hoping to travel internationally to visit his mother, and is now weighing re-applying for the document.
“No I am in this limbo where my trip is just after Christmas, and I have to decide whether I should go and get an express one and pay for it again, which is possible to do, but it just kind of bothers me that I know it is sitting two kilometres down the road sitting in a drawer somewhere,” he said.
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Kurtz said he supports the workers’ right to strike, but was surprised the postal service hadn’t made allowances for critical documents such as his. He said he’s concerned he’ll go through the expense and effort of replacing it, only for the strike to end shortly afterward.
“It’s not my Amazon package sitting and waiting, it’s my passport,” he said.
Meanwhile, the passport office in Vancouver has become a busy scene, with scores of people lining up every day to apply for or pick up their travel documents in person.
Mark Slattery gave kudos to Service Canada staff, who he said had made the process efficient.
But he said he’d like the two sides to reach a deal as soon as possible.
“I wish they could all get back to work,” he said.
“It’s like anything else, if two parties can get together and negotiate at a bargaining table and get it done is the best course of negotiation.”
B.C. charities, who often rely on the holiday season to conduct much of their fundraising, are also feeling the pressure.
The St. James Music Academy in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside loans instruments to children free of charge, offers lessons, and also runs a food program for youth who need it.
The group says the majority of its donations come through the mail, with nearly half its revenue arriving in the final two months of the year.
“Music education is very expensive, especially classical music, the instruments as you know are very costly,” academy executive director Sarah Godoy said.
“That’s why the music school exists, as a means for people to give their children a chance to access music without having the barrier of financial costs.”
The organization is appealing for online donations to make up the gap as it waits for the postal service to restart.
Earlier this week, federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon called the ongoing strike “highly disrespectful” of Canadians, adding the two sides remained “very far apart.”
Mediated talks between the Crown corporation and posties were temporarily suspended last week.
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