Canada Post will ship Greater Victoria letters to Vancouver for sorting, starting Sept. 16.
While the corporation says no Victoria staff will be laid off, the Canadian Union of Postal Workers says the change will eliminate 10 jobs through staff reassignment and attrition.
“We just got notice [Wednesday] morning via email, a letter from national Canada Post,” said Janet Barney, president of CUPW Local 850.
The change will not affect packages sent between points on Vancouver Island or direct mail advertising, which will continue to be handled in Greater Victoria.
The change “is going to devastate the mail here, and the jobs” Barney said.
In 2010, Canada Post shifted the sorting of letter mail north of Victoria to the Lower Mainland. Victoria letters have been sorted locally.
In some areas, Canada Post has set up twin mailboxes, one for letters destined for Vancouver Island and the other for letters to be sent elsewhere.
Now all the letters mailed in Victoria will go to Vancouver for sorting.
Victoria’s mail-sorting machine will be shut down and 10 positions eliminated. Workers will either retire or move into other vacant positions, Barney said.
Canada Post is trying to deal with declining mail volume across the country, said spokeswoman Anick Losier.
“Our business has changed dramatically,” Losier said in an email.
“Canadians are sending one billion fewer letters a year than they did in 2006, a trend that has accelerated over the last few years as they become more accustomed to digital alternatives.”
While the number of letters have dropped, there are many more packages in the mail system as people purchase more items online.
The Vancouver facility has the capacity to process Vancouver Island’s volume of letters in less than three hours, Losier said. Equipment in Vancouver can sort 40,000 letters an hour.
The delivery standard for local mail is unchanged, at two days, she said.
But Barney is concerned that Island mail won’t have priority at the Vancouver plant, which will be sorting mail for the entire province. And speedy delivery depends on the reliability of B.C. Ferries, which can be affected by winter storms and breakdowns.
The job losses will be felt through Greater Victoria, Barney said.
“It’s huge loss to a community,” she said.
Each employee earns an average of $50,000 annually, “and once the jobs are gone, they’re gone.
“These people bought homes here, bought cars here, shopped locally.”
Canada Post recognizes that employees have job security “and we will respect all applicable provisions of our collective agreements,” Losier said.
