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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Around a dozen union representatives passed out fliers outside the post office Monday to show their support for more than 2,100 administrative postal workers across the country who went on strike.

Mary Lou Cherwaty, president of the Northwest Territories Federation of Labour, was joined by around a dozen representatives from Northern unions outside the Post Office, Monday, to support 2,140 administrative and technical support workers around the country who went on strike. One Yellowknifer is affected by the strike and did not attend work Monday, according to union representatives. - Herb Mathisen/NNSL photo

In Yellowknife, only one employee who works at the airport will be affected by the strike. The employee did not show up for work Monday, according to union spokespeople.

John Caines, spokesperson for Canada Post in Ottawa, said with the Christmas season soon approaching, the strike will not have an effect on mail delivery in the North.

"It shouldn't have any effect," he said. "The mail will be delivered."

Caines said the 2,140 employees currently on strike are predominately administrative and technical support workers. "They don't touch the mail," he said.

The workers are represented by the Union of Postal Communications Employees - a component of the Public Service Alliance of Canada.

Mary Lou Cherwaty, president of the Northwest Territories Federation of Labour, said workers voted to strike because the company was trying to take away things already negotiated into their collective bargaining agreement.

"They're not asking for anything they don't already have," said Cherwaty of the employees on strike.

She said the strike boiled down to two issues: sick leave and job security.

The union said the workers voted at nearly 90 per cent approval to strike to protect sick leave and job security arrangements presently in their collective bargaining agreements. Presently, if employees are sick, they can use up banked leave time to receive 100 per cent of their pay during their days off.

The company wants to institute a short-term disability policy, which would see employees paid only 70 per cent during sick days.

Caines said the company would pay 70 per cent of the workers' salaries for the first 15 weeks they were off while their bank time could cap it at 100 per cent. Over the next 15 weeks, he said, employees would receive employment insurance and with company contributions, the employees could receive 95 per cent of their salaries.

Cherwaty said the company was moving to have its insurance agent determine whether employees were sick, which would put it outside of the collective bargaining agreement.

If the insurance company did not think the employee was sick, she added, the employee would have no way to grieve the decision.

Doctors' notes would no longer suffice as documentation.

Those with less than five years' experience would have no job security under the company's proposals.

The company made an offer on Sunday night that ensured job security entitlements stayed in the agreement, Caines said.

He said Canada Post hasn't heard back from the union on the offer yet, and he did not know how long the strike would last.

"You can't negotiate if they're not there," said Caines. "We've been available through the whole process."

Representatives from the Federation of Northern Labour, the Union of Northern Workers, the Public Service Alliance of Canada and the steelworkers union were all out at the picket line.

"Our position is an injustice to one is an injustice for all," said Cherwaty, to describe the turnout.