URGENT - we call for an IMMEDIATE HALT of plans to permanently close of the NDG Postal Depot. (The workers and customers of the Snowdon Depot will also be negatively affected if the closure moves forward.)

VERSION FRANCAISE ICI

To the attention of:

The Honourable Anna Gainey, MP NDG/Westmount

The Honourable Jean-Yves Duclos, Minister of Public Services and Procurement

Peter McQueen, City Councillor, Montreal CDN/NDG

We want to maintain a HUMAN-SCALE public service in NDG, a tightknit community that looks out for one another. 20% of the current employees at NDG live in NDG and walk to work. Knowing that the negative impacts on workers are numerous and touch on the safety of carriers, we demand a full investigation and ask that closure be halted (or at the very least extended by 6 months to a year until data and proof of claims made herein can be aired publicly.)

Canada Post is not taxpayer funded, but enormous questionable investments (not the least of which is a generous payment made to management level only attributed to "At-Risk Pay" in the Spring of 2024) have been made in the past few years leading to a worrisome financial situation. Workers have a myriad of viable solutions to make Canada Post beneficial to all Canadians, as well as VERY profitable. One need only listen.

Currently, 11 vehicles plus 16 walk-only routes serve the NDG community (H4A and H4B only). The plan to move operations of the depot will mean a total of 26 vehicles coming in from further away (as much as 30-40 minute drive.) More trucks, more pollution, more traffic, more parking woes. Society claims to put a premium on a healthy lifestyle, community and environmental concerns. This move to eliminate all foot routes that don't require a vehicle goes against everything all levels of government say they are striving for.

A new delivery system "SSD" (Separate Sort and Delivery) means an extra 24-hour delay on ALL mail items, including priority and registered letters. This new system is already leading to record resignations (so far in 2024, it's 4 times the average resignations over the past 4 years). Worker morale is at an all-time low, aggravated by the fact that there is a stalled contract negotiation. The removal of sorting from letter carriers means a later shift start time making work/life balance no longer be feasible. Single parents are already looking for other jobs. Health concerns are real, as workers will be forced to begin deliveries in the high heat of summer, and end their shift with several hours delivering in the dark during wintertime. Carriers are being punished for being efficient. New trainee retention hovers around 25% as the job is much harder than it appears.

SSD means that customers will have a carrier who will not know about any special needs or services (such as mail forwarding, or hold mail.) The 3-bundle system (machine-sorted mail, manual mail such as magazines, advert flyers - plus small packets) leads to injuries. Having a new position called "Router" involves sorting for 8 hours a day which is leading to repetitive strain injuries in other depots where this has already been implemented. Carriers in those depots are overloaded physically and mentally, and no longer have time to do the extra little things they used to do for their valued customers. This separation of duties has also removed any variety in the work day, turning carriers into delivery or sorting robots.

The closure of the NDG depot also means that customers with delivery problems will have to make their way to Bridge street, or the Snowdon depot to resolve the problem.

For this, AND MANY other reasons, we ask that you take IMMEDIATE adn URGENT action with the tools at your disposal (injunction or other.) We ask that you read/present this petition in the House of Commons, as well as at the next city council meeting.