Dear Editor
Why do so many people believe that the recent problem with Canada Post, which has resulted in no mail being delivered for a few days, is all the fault of the postal workers, or, perhaps even more, the fault of their union?
A non-political friend of mine complained to me the other day that she would not be able to get important mail because the postal workers were on an unjustified strike, and that they were getting too may benefits anyhow. That made me think about how she may have come to that conclusion.
It's true that, because bargaining by the union and Canada Post management had been at an impasse for a long time, the union recently had a mandate from the workers to take action in the form of rotating work stoppages that would cause the least possible inconvenience to the general public. But it's also true most mail was still being delivered as usual until the Canada Post management (led by a CEO who is a Harper appointee) locked out the workers. That's when mail stopped being delivered everywhere.
According to a recent poll, 70 per cent of those polled believe the Harper government was justified in passing an act in Parliament forcing the workers back to work with a lower wage increase than even the management offer that had been rejected. The government's rationale has been that it was necessary to curtail the workers' bargaining rights in order to prevent harm to the economy.
I find it hard to believe the Harper rationale that draconian action against the workers was the only action the government could have taken to prevent harm to the economy, especially since the workers had been locked out by management. No doubt, many of those approving of the government's action must have felt, as did my friend, that the workers and their union were solely at fault for the problem.
And that raises the question of the role of the popular media in a democratic country. Have our media generally (even the news) become so one-sided that average citizens have to dig like investigative reporters to find the truth behind what they hear or read?
Russell Lahti
Battleford
