For Immediate Release

Ottawa – “The red flags on rural mailboxes need not go down forever,” said Deborah Bourque, National President of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) in announcing CUPW’s call for a moratorium to keep both rural delivery and safety.

CUPW wants Canada Post to stop taking away rural roadside delivery until the corporation has thoroughly consulted and explored all available delivery options with rural residents and local union officials. The union also wants Canada Post to go back to locations that have lost roadside mailbox service after improper consultation.

“Rural residents are frustrated and outraged because they’re not being consulted before learning their roadside delivery has been switched to a community mailbox or an in-town post office box,” said Bourque.

CUPW’s call for a national moratorium coincides with meetings that Atlantic regional representatives of the union have set up for this week with members of Parliament (MPs) from the Atlantic to discuss rural delivery.

Rural residents living outside Charlottetown recently received post cards from Canada Post informing them about upcoming safety assessments. Four days earlier they received letters stating they had already failed the assessments and were having their delivery switched to community mailboxes. “Pads were already laid down for the community mailboxes before we got the post cards,” said Edith Ling of North Winsloe, Prince Edward Island.“One pad was laid three feet from the road on a blind curve at an intersection. What kind of safety assessment was that? A lot of folks around here were just handed keys to a community mailbox two days before they were moved and were told they failed for no other reason other than they were on a road with double lines.”

“Rural residents in Atlantic Canada and elsewhere see Canada Post’s safety review as the corporation’s excuse to justify large-scale conversions of rural boxes to community mailboxes,” said Bourque. “Safety is definitely a concern, but we’re not convinced the review is being done properly.”

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