Picket lines are up today outside the Owen Sound office of Canada Post.
The Crown Corporation made the decision to lockout the workers in urban areas, affecting 48 thousand employees.
The lockout comes after 12 days of rotating strikes by CUP-W members.
Canada Post says the walkouts were becoming too expensive, claiming the two weeks of rotating walk-outs has cost 100 million dollars already.
But that’s something Owen Sound CUP-W President Peter Mchugh disagrees with.
Mchugh also disputes the claim that mail volume has dropped by 50 percent since the rotating strikes began.
The post office and the Canadian Union of Postal Workers are said to remain “far apart” on several key issues, with no progress being made at the bargaining table.
Despite the strike, Canada Post and CUP-W agreed to deliver government checks on the 20th — including pension checks and baby bonus checks.
Mchugh believes the big issue in the dispute is pensions.
