Union leader calls for investigation into City of Whitehorse staff delivering mail during Canada Post strike

The Whitehorse branch of the federal postal workers' union is calling for an investigation into how and why city employees were delivering mail — namely, public notices — during last year's strike at Canada Post. 

Mac Clohan, president of the Canadian Union Of Postal Workers' (CUPW) Whitehorse local, brought the issue to a city council meeting Monday night, saying that "some lines were objectively crossed." 

"I'm not trying to attack anybody, I'm not here going out for blood… I just think that lapses of judgment did occur," Clohan told councillors.  

"What I am hoping that my presence here today can move forward is an investigation that would lead to this educational opportunity."  

Canada Post workers across the country went on a four-week-long strike in mid-November after negotiations between CUPW and the corporation ground to a halt, with the union citing issues like wage increases, benefits and worker safety as key sticking points. 

Under federal legislation, Canada Post "has the sole and exclusive privilege of collecting, transmitting and delivering letters" within the country, with few exceptions. However, some Whitehorse residents received written notices during the strike informing them of an upcoming public hearing on a proposed zoning amendment. 

The notices were delivered by city planning department staff. While the city had described the material as "flyers" and said staff were volunteering, Clohan, in his presentation, said the notices were in envelopes individually addressed to each household and that the city had used "scab labour" to deliver mail.

Clohan said he wanted the investigation to privately identify the manager or managers who instructed city workers to deliver the notices, as well as the workers themselves. Representatives or stewards from the Yukon Employees' Union, which represents municipal employees, would then get the chance to speak to them about appropriate conduct during a strike as well as workers' rights — both their own, and those of striking workers. 

Coun. Dan Boyd, responding to Clohan's presentation Monday, pointed to a special city council meeting Dec. 12 where council passed a motion approving "alternative notification methods" for public hearings during the remainder of the strike and explicitly prohibiting the hand-delivery of notices by city staff. 

"Your point was loudly heard and there was some correction made so that, you know, it shouldn't happen again," Boyd told Clohan. 

Clohan, however, said in an interview that the Dec. 12 meeting wasn't enough to address what he saw as a broader labour rights issue. 

"There are a lot of unions in this town — CUPW's not the only one — and if the city management is willing to use scab labour to advance their interests when we're on strike, then who's to say they won't use scab labour to advance their interests when some other bargaining group is on strike?" he said. 

"This is scab labour and the city and the territory as a whole should not be participating in that at all." 

Besides making the presentation at council, Clohan said he's also been communicating directly with the city but that to date, it's told him that it doesn't know which workers or managers were involved with delivering the notices and has "refused" to launch the requested investigation.