CANADA POSTAL UNION PREPARED TO REJECT NEW OFFER
Canada Post presented its striking
letter carriers with a new contract offer today but both sides
said there was little indication the offer would end an
increasingly violent three-day-old walkout.
    The strike has been especially bitter in Quebec, where the
federally regulated postal service has brought in replacement
workers in contravention of provincial laws that prohibit
hiring strikebreakers.
    Canada Post said letter carriers in Chicoutimi and
Jonquiere, Quebec, damaged mail sorting rooms, ripped out
telephone lines and letter racks, overturned furniture and
threw mail on the floor before walking out to join carriers in
other cities on the picket line.
    The rotating strike spread today to the Atlantic provinces
and Vancouver. Carriers remained off the job in Edmonton and
Vancouver while postal employees went back to work in Montreal,
Calgary, and Cornwall, Ontario.
    About 20 people were arrested in Eastern Canada as strikers
scuffled with police called in to escort replacement workers
across picket lines.
    Letter Carriers Union of Canada President Robert McGarry
said the new offer to the union's 20,000 members contained only
minor changes and did not soften the agency's demand for
concessions.
    Canada Post officials said the agency is limited by federal
guidlines which order the agency to eliminate its 160 mln dlrs
deficit by next year.
 Reuter
