OTTAWA, May 25 - The only public post office in Orleans will be closing its doors unless the public gets involved. Canada Post plans to shut down the Orleans Retail Postal Outlet located at 1479 Youville Drive.

Dan L'Abbé has been working at Canada Post for 34 years and has spent the past 2 years behind the retail counter of the Orleans Post Office. L’Abbe says his customers like the location, right off the Queensway and close to Jeanne D'Arc Boulevard. “I can’t understand why anybody would want to close such a convenient location,” said L’Abbé.

Canada Post is moving its mail operations to a new facility located at the 10^th Line and Innes Road. Letter carriers who worked behind the post office at Youville had been overcrowded for years. However, the postal workers say that closing the retail outlet and uprooting the many retail customers who have been using post office boxes and other services at Youville Drive is unacceptable.

The Canadian Union of Postal Workers opposes the closing of the retail outlet and has proposed that the retail outlet move to a location in the same area. The cost of this move could be covered by a joint union-management fund. “This plan means less disruption and financial losses to customers, including many small business owners,” said Godwin Smith, President of the Ottawa Local of CUPW. Canada Post has yet to respond to the union’s proposal.

Today, between 8am and 11am, the union will be setting up an information picket at the Orleans Post Office at 1479 Youville Drive. CUPW National President Denis Lemelin is scheduled to speak at 8:30am.

In the meantime, the union is urging concerned members of the public to contact Canada Post and voice their opinions at  www.canadapost.ca/retail.

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