National Farmers Union in Solidarity with Canada’s Striking Postal Workers
Rural post offices are vital to all of Canada, especially farmers and rural people, and a strong public postal service is a community-building institution that we need now more than ever.
In late September, the federal government announced that it has authorized Canada Post to end home mail delivery, change letter mail frequency, and lift a moratorium on the closing of nearly 4,000 post offices across Canada. These proposals will only lead to the continued privatization of the postal service.
The National Farmers Union (NFU) congratulates the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) for striking against the government’s push to end the rural post office closure moratorium and its plans to reduce delivery service for all Canadians.
Post offices in rural, farming communities are community hubs; they foster rural economies and keep rural people and communities connected to the rest of Canada and the world.
The NFU has supported Canadian postal workers for decades. The NFU endorsed the 7-year Rural Dignity movement that achieved the historic moratorium on rural post office closures back in 1993 and, in 2009, members democratically reiterated their opposition to postal service reductions, particularly in rural areas, and insisted that postal services are a right and not a privilege.
“A public postal service is a public good and a duty of government,” says Jenn Pfenning, NFU President. “We stand beside CUPW workers to reject the government’s attack on a national asset. Dismantling the public postal service would be a disservice to Canadians that would undermine our national sovereignty for the sole benefit of corporate billionaires.”
The federal government claims Canada Post is “not viable.” So-called “viable” delivery companies such as Amazon rely on precarious and dangerous working conditions to undercut labour costs. Amazon is vehemently anti-union. Doing away with steady and secure work in the Canadian postal service and replacing it with Amazon and other privatized, non-unionized gig delivery diminishes the dignity, safety and security of Canadian workers. Furthermore, these companies often depend on Canada Post to carry out “last mile” package delivery, as private competitors often do not have the infrastructure or profit motive to deliver to rural, remote and Indigenous communities. Without Canada Post, these communities would be left completely unserviced.
In the face of annexation threats, we should be discussing public postal service expansion to further assist Canadians and strengthen the nation instead of demanding service reductions. CUPW has presented numerous innovative ideas, like postal banking, that would increase postal service viability and benefit underserved Canadians. They have also suggested a farm-to-table delivery program that would support local farmers and reinforce our crumbling local food infrastructure.
Ending door-to-door delivery service and closing rural post offices would be extremely destructive to rural communities that are already struggling. We encourage all rural Canadians to stand in solidarity with CUPW and send a letter to your MP to stop the cuts to Canada Post, to expand services to generate revenue, and to support CUPW in their negotiations with Canada Post. Canada Post is for the people!
