The Frontenac News In The Coming Weeks

Jeff Green | Nov 13, 2024

As we were preparing this issue of the Frontenac News, the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) gave a 72 hour strike notice. The notice comes into effect on Friday, November 15, so it should not affect delivery of this particular paper, which was delivered to Canada Post locations in the region, in time for distribution on Thursday, November 14.

The strike notice does not necessarily mean a strike will be called on November 15. “Although we've given notice to Canada Post, the National Executive Board has not yet determined whether job action will take place immediately” said the notice that CUPW sent out at 1:14am on Tuesday, November 12.

The last time CUPW and Canada Post were in a dispute, it resulted in rotating strikes, and we were able to continue distributing the Frontenac News through Canada Post with no interruption.

The time before that, Canada Post reacted to a similar 72 hour notice by locking out the workers, and their services were not available to us for two weeks, before the Government of Canada intervened.

We do not know what will happen this time. Rotating strikes, a general strike, or a lockout are all possible. Given the instability at the federal government level currently, it is also hard to say if, when and how they will intervene if there is a service interruption.

As for the Frontenac News, if there is mail service next week, the November 21st issue will arrive in readers' post boxes as normal. If not, we will distribute as best we can, seeking support from local businesses, and townships to help us get papers out to the public. If the post offices are open, and not delivering mail, we will attempt to have papers available there as well.

We will monitor the number of papers that are picked up on November 21st, in order to decide whether to publish in subsequent weeks, if any service disruption persists. No matter what, we will continue to post our regular content, each week, at frontenacnews.ca, including the community columns. Our event directory at everythingfrontenac.ca/events will also continue to be updated.

We hope you are able to see and read us next week.