No end scheduled for postal service strike in Fort St. John, union rep says

Update, October 16th, 10:21 a.m.: This story has been updated to include a statement from Canada Post.

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — Amid growing uncertainty about rural post offices, striking workers picketed outside Fort St. John’s main post office this week.

The workers represented by the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) local chapter 738 are among the first to participate in rotating strikes in Canada, highlighting the ongoing struggle between the union and Canada Post.

This shutdown is the second in less than a year, after a lockdown and strike took place last November.

The Dawson Creek main post office, located at 10516 10th Street, is also one of four centres across Canada on a rotating strike, and Fort St. John CUPW said its picket line on 10139 101 Avenue will be indefinite on Tuesday, October 14th.

Discussions between the two sides broke down in late September, with CUPW saying federal minister of government transformation, public works and procurement Joël Lightbound announced “massive changes” to the government’s mandate for the Crown service, including “huge cutbacks to the public.”

Part of those cutbacks, said CUPW local 738 president Babe Seguin, is the potential closure of rural post offices, including several in northeast B.C.

A sign was fastened to the railing outside the post office in Fort St. John with a list of facilities which are allegedly on the chopping block, including in Altona, Buick, Cecil Lake, Charlie Lake, Clayhurst, Montney, Prespatou, Rose Prairie, Tumbler Ridge as well as retail offices in both Dawson Creek and Fort St. John.

Seguin had a petition, asking passers by and drivers looking to use the shuttered post office to protest the closure of the offices, which she says serves approximately 50,000 residents.

Canada Post has previously announced it wants to end door-to-door service by 2035.

“[Losing] door-to-door service will be four million addresses [nationwide],” said Seguin. “Losing all these services, to our rural, Indigenous, farmers and seniors, is detrimental. I don’t even know [how communities in the north] would function.”

Seguin said Canada Post’s offer of a 13.59 per cent wage increase over four years, flexible scheduling, the expansion of community mailboxes and the lifting of the rural moratorium presented in early October was “a slap in the face.”

The Liberal government had previously lifted the moratorium to not close rural post offices and community mailboxes when elected in 2015.

In a statement to Energeticcity.ca, media relations for Canada Post Lisa Liu noted the moratorium was implemented in 1994 to “protect” rural offices and keep them off limits to changes, but says times have changed.

“So many post offices that were once determined to be ‘rural’ are now in urban or suburban areas with other post offices in nearby stores and pharmacies,” wrote Liu. “In these now overserved areas, we need to update our retail network.”

Seguin told Energeticcity.ca: “We have already lost the jobs when we went to community mailboxes.

“What about when you misplace your keys? Canada Post doesn’t tell you it’s going to cost you $30.

“Your mail is actually not secure. It is not at your home. You get to pay to get new lock changes done if you’ve misplaced keys…maybe somebody in a jacked-up truck just backs into it and takes the whole mailbox away. 

“We lose the members in the communities, and we lose the jobs that go with it too. A lot of people do enjoy seeing letter carriers in their communities. It’s something that’s missed greatly.”

Conversion to community mailboxes, also known as super mailboxes, would mean senior letter carriers like Cindy Lynn would be shown the door.

A veteran of nearly three decades, her job could be on the chopping block should the expected job cuts come into place, not giving her a chance at receiving her full pension.

Lynn had knee surgery in 2024, going on short-term disability while she recovered. She says being paid just 60 per cent of her salary was not “enough to cover the bills.”

With a husband who recently suffered a heart attack, she has also had to put off physiotherapy appointments due to the strike putting her in a precarious financial position. 

“I actually went into debt during that time,” said Lynn. “I started back in December when we went on strike. So then I was off for another four weeks with no pay.

“I have to put those treatments off, because I have no money coming in to pay for them. So now I’m just like a sitting duck.”

Energeticcity.ca reached out to the Ministry of Government Transformation, Public Works and Procurement for further comment.

Canada Post’s Liu says the minister’s office has given the company 45 days to “outline our plan to implement the series of measures the government presented in September.”

She added that “updating” its retail network will “allow us to continue in our commitment to protect the service for those who need it the most, most notably people living in rural, remote, northern and Indigenous communities.”

CUPW said talks between the union and representatives from Lightbound’s office would resume in a statement on Wednesday, October 15th.