London’s Canada Post processing plant will see approximately 50 jobs eliminated this summer.
Starting August 25, most of the mail processing will be transferred to Toronto’s South Central Letter Processing Plant and Gateway West Facility.
Jon Hamilton of Canada Post says, "The equipment can process mail much faster than in the past. At the same time, letter mail has been declining year after year."
He adds that the amount of letter mail process by Canada Post in 2013 was 1.2 billion less than in 2006.
While most employees have job security, over time 49 full-time and four part-time positions are expected to be eliminated.
Dean Woronoski, president of CUPW Local 566, says "The workers are devastated. They're concerned about the unknown. They don't know how its going to impact them - we knew that there would be job cuts to letter carriers, but not this."
The cuts are expected to be accomplished mostly through attrition, so it remains unclear if there will be layoffs, and if so how many. Currently 300 employees work at the plant.
The union says workers hired before the end of 2012 are protected by a collective agreement, but Woronoski adds "Workers were told by management this morning that anyone hired in the last five years doesn't have job security."
Canada Post says there will be no impact on service.
Hamilton says "Canadians want Canada Post to stay around for the long term but they don't want to use their tax dollars to keep us going, so we need to make changes."
