Post by Rick (Admin) on Jan 22, 2013 15:44:45 GMT -5
NORTH BAY - Mayor Al McDonald said he'll fight to keep local mail sorting in North Bay even though Canada Post claims there will be no delivery delays or job losses.
“It doesn't make sense to truck everything to Toronto, then truck it up to Sudbury and then back to North Bay . . . for a letter being sent across the street,” McDonald said.
Beginning March 18, according to a Canada Post letter advising the city of the change, North Bay mail will be sorted at the south central facility in Toronto which has extra capacity due to declining use of traditional mail delivery.
“With the ongoing decline of physical letter volumes and improvements to our automated mail processing technology, maintaining a separate manual sorting process is not the best use of our resources,” stated the letter.
McDonald said he's been told the 18 local employees involved in mail processing, half of which are full-time, have job security and won't be required to transfer to other cities although their duties and shifts may change.
But he said one is nearing retirement and a Canada Post spokesman said the worker will likely not be replaced with a new hire.
McDonald said job security protection in collective agreements doesn't mean the number of people employed locally will remain at today's total.
“Once they retire, or leave through attrition, those jobs will be lost in the future,” he said.
McDonald said Canada Post tried to move North Bay's mail sorting to Sudbury several years ago and it was fought successfully.
“I don't want to lose the processing plant here, it's one more asset for this city,” he said, noting that local mail sorting is not leaving Sudbury and North Bay shouldn't lose its facility.
“I won't stand for it,” he said.
www.nugget.ca/2013/01/21/local-mail-sorting-moving-south
“It doesn't make sense to truck everything to Toronto, then truck it up to Sudbury and then back to North Bay . . . for a letter being sent across the street,” McDonald said.
Beginning March 18, according to a Canada Post letter advising the city of the change, North Bay mail will be sorted at the south central facility in Toronto which has extra capacity due to declining use of traditional mail delivery.
“With the ongoing decline of physical letter volumes and improvements to our automated mail processing technology, maintaining a separate manual sorting process is not the best use of our resources,” stated the letter.
McDonald said he's been told the 18 local employees involved in mail processing, half of which are full-time, have job security and won't be required to transfer to other cities although their duties and shifts may change.
But he said one is nearing retirement and a Canada Post spokesman said the worker will likely not be replaced with a new hire.
McDonald said job security protection in collective agreements doesn't mean the number of people employed locally will remain at today's total.
“Once they retire, or leave through attrition, those jobs will be lost in the future,” he said.
McDonald said Canada Post tried to move North Bay's mail sorting to Sudbury several years ago and it was fought successfully.
“I don't want to lose the processing plant here, it's one more asset for this city,” he said, noting that local mail sorting is not leaving Sudbury and North Bay shouldn't lose its facility.
“I won't stand for it,” he said.
www.nugget.ca/2013/01/21/local-mail-sorting-moving-south