Danielle Smith

Canadian Postal Workers Strike Again

Canadian postal workers are back on strike—again—as they fight to save a vital public service.

Joël Lightbound, the cabinet minister responsible for Canada Post, on September 25 announced drastic changes to the postal service, including an end to home delivery. The 4 million remaining home delivery addresses would move to community mailboxes.

The government would also drop a requirement to deliver mail five days a week, and lift a moratorium on closing rural post offices. The changes could cost more than 10,000 Canada Post jobs, postal workers say.

California Educators Sync Up Negotiations for More Leverage

Public school educators in 32 union locals across California are joining forces to maximize their power in a campaign called “We Can’t Wait.” It covers 77,000 educators—about a quarter of the California Teachers Association’s total membership—serving a million students.

The campaign started with 11 locals that worked to align their contract expiration dates for the end of June: Anaheim, Berkeley, Los Angeles, Natomas, Oakland, Richmond, Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose, and Twin Rivers. And it quickly spread from there.

Canada's 55,000 Postal Strikers Are Refusing to Throw New Hires Under the Bus

The company wants to make new hires wait a year before they receive benefits, and to exclude them from the defined-benefit pension plan. Meanwhile the starting wage has risen only 6.7 percent since 2006.