OTTAWA — Canada Post employees from several Quebec communities are joining countrywide rotating strikes a day after about 6,000 workers walked off the job in Montreal.
The Canadian Union of Postal Workers says walkouts started this morning in Saint-Jerome, Vaudreuil-Dorion, Sorel, Sainte-Therese de Blainville and Valleyfield.
Workers in Joliette, Que., have been on strike since 1 a.m. EDT, and the Prince Edward Island communities of Summerside and Charlottetown were hit by strikes that started at midnight local time.
The union says the Montreal walkout ended Tuesday night, but another 16 communities across the country are now taking part in the 24-hour strikes.
In Ontario, walkouts began in Arnprior-Renfrew and Ottawa this morning, but strikes in Fort Frances, Deep River and other communities in the province have ended.
Meanwhile, employees in the Saskatchewan communities of Saskatoon, Weyburn and Moose Jaw are no longer on strike.
The union and the postal service have been unable to reach new collective agreements for the two bargaining units after 10 months of negotiations.
Last Tuesday, Labour Minister Patty Hajdu appointed Morton Mitchnick, a former chairman of the Ontario Labour Relations Board, to help the two parties resolve their differences.