Canada Post delivery stopped Friday when postal workers went on strke. (ID 134643836 © Modfos | Dreamstime.com)

By Teena Monteleone

Service disruptions

Canada Post strike leaves P.A. physiotherapist without essential eyewear, unable to work

Nov 19, 2024 | 2:20 PM

Ranju Pillai is a physiotherapist in Prince Albert, but she hasn’t been able to do her job since the Canada Post strike began last week.

Pillai has an eye disorder called keratoconus which results in progressive thinning of the cornea. A specialized fitted contact lens she uses to help her see broke. She was waiting on a new order that arrived in Prince Albert on Friday – the day mail delivery came to a halt across the country when more than 55,000 members of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers walked off the job.

“I am legally blind without the lenses on. I can’t do my work and I can’t function at home either because I need somebody to help me all the time,” said Pillai.

For many keratoconus patients, glasses will not adequately correct vision problems and after a recent corneal transplant, that’s the case for Pillai whose only option is the contact lens.

“I called the post office to tell them my situation. I told them I haven’t been able to go to work, but they completely denied me. I pleaded to them saying it’s an essential service for me, but they said no. We don’t have anybody working at the Canada Post office able to help you.”

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With the uncertainty of how long the strike will last, Pillai had no other choice but to order a second lens at a cost of $800 out of pocket and have it delivered by a different courier.

“It’s really frustrating,” she said. “I used up all my sick time when I had surgery, so I am not being paid for this time away from work. So, I don’t have the money and not being able to see anything or go anywhere. It not only affects my work, it affects my whole life.”

Members of CUPW Local 810 outside the Canada Post mail processing plant in Prince Albert on Nov. 15. (Susan McNeil/ paNOW Staff)

In an email to paNOW, a spokesperson for Canada Post said they were ‘very sorry to hear about this situation’ but unfortunately, they cannot retrieve items from the postal system.

“All mail and parcels in the postal network have been secured and will be delivered on a first-in, first-out basis once operations resume. However, the national strike will impact service to Canadians well after the strike activity ends. Processing and delivery will be challenged going forward due to the impacts of the strike. We remain committed to reaching new agreements at the bargaining table, and not through arbitration.”

On Monday, CUPW and Canada Post sat down with a government-appointed special mediator but both sides remain far apart on the issues of benefits, sick leave, job conditions and security, wages and weekends.

The union and Canada Post agreed to continue delivering government benefit cheques during the labour disruption. Pillai said there needs to be exceptions for things like medical equipment, too.

“If they can deliver the child tax benefit and senior’s pension and all those papers which are considered as mandatory, why isn’t this a service they could have provided me?”

—

teena.monteleone@pattisonmedia.com

On X: @princealbertNOW