The head of the union that represents postal workers in Nova Scotia says the changes announced by Ottawa for Canada Post will lead to its deterioration.

The federal government announced the Crown corporation was in an existential crisis and to mitigate it, they were cutting back on things like door-to-door delivery, lifting the moratorium on rural locations and shifting management around.

Postal workers across the country then walked off the job and according to Dwayne Corner, president of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers, Nova Scotia Local, members in our province are disappointed.

He tells our newsroom getting rid of door-to-door delivery will eliminate about 35 per cent of letter carrier positions in the depot here.

“That’s basically gutting the post office,” says Corner. “The corporation has been trying to make us irrelevant as they were trying to starve us out.”

He says the feds are trying to drive servers into the ground and created the situation to “cry poor”.

“They’re using it as a means to get the government and everybody else on side to say that you know…it’s all doom and gloom,” says Corner.

He adds, the Crown corporation raised the price of stamps and have started making money off of that.

“A lot of stuff that they spent money on is basically investments, but they’re calling it a loss.”

Corner says closing rural post offices is a step backwards and will mean a lot of people will have to travel further to get their mail.

“We’ve suggested to the corporation ways to make money, and they refuse to look at them, and they continue to want to dismantle the postal service,” adds Corner.

He says Canada Post has been around for 150 years and should not be treated as a for profit service.

Meanwhile, the federal government says the corporation has been losing $10 million a day and $5 billion over the last ten years.

Members have been on strike as a result of the changes, since September 25.