From postal strike to postal strife and stroke: ebay sellers should also protest

[momcqueen]

Getting into the spirit of 'peaceful protest' and 'civil disobedience' who else thinks it would be a grand idea to stage performance art protests using our ebay-branded shipping supplies to maximum impact?

My best idea so far: ebay-created tape bodies in ebay-branded cardboard shanty towns to occupy the parking lots in key areas demonstrating (literally) how the postal strike has: (a) left online sellers out in the cold; (b) forced us into the streets where we now contemplate living in cardboard boxes using our hard-earned shipping supplies we have no orders to pack into, and (c) mummified remains of sellers wrapped in ebay tape so show how we starved to death as a result of being the forgotten collateral damage in a labour dispute between the union and management.

Eh? 

[momcqueen]

The very reason I sought to clarify whether the comment insinuating eBay stickers being a mark for unknown consequences is meant as a direct threat or merely hyperbole.

[forester_studios]

Yes I understand your question for clarity. From my experience people who make veiled threats like that one, mostly likely don't care about clarity. They merely wish to cheer lead for their cause unfortunately. I wonder how many of the pro CUPW posters actually rely on ebay sales to pay their bills?

[momcqueen]

I’d venture to say zero.

[momcqueen]

"We did not elect ebay to govern."

No, but postal workers did elect to seek employment delivering parcels and those parcels are sent by online sellers (plus a few grandmothers who bake gingerbread cookies for their favourite grandchildren across the country) and those online sellers include many tens of thousands of Canadian ebay sellers.

It's ebay sellers who pay the wages of postal workers for whom they deliver the parcels while being gainfully employed for a postal service. Therefore, postal workers have, in fact, elected to work for ebay sellers. When you work for someone, you must expect to be governed by them. Otherwise, where would parcels that unionized workers carry come from? No online (ebay) sellers equals no parcels equals no job. 

Big companies hardly bother with Canada Post now, they've moved to courier services. Without ebay sellers and hundreds of thousands of other small businesses in Canada, Canadian postal workers would be unemployed. 

I'm uncertain as to how that is a difficult concept for certain people to grasp. This isn't Industrial London 1798 anymore. It's not even the Winnipeg General Strike 1919. Workers have an inherent right to organize and strike, yes, but not at the cost of an entire nation of whom the unionized employees already represent a higher and more stable economic stratus than the small business people they serve. It's like 50,000 workers have 200,000 small business owners (and many more millions of on-line shoppers) by the throat at Christmas no less, telling us the throttling is for our own good because it's good for the economy that we get nothing at all so that can get more?

I'm not buying it. No one is buying that line. The only people who believe it are the people who are telling it to themselves. And their friends who are perhaps threatening ebay sellers or the packages they send...? I'm waiting for clarification there on precisely what the previous "ebay stickers" comment is supposed to represent and on whose behalf that statement was issued. 

[cumos55]

We must continue to document the effect of the postal strike on eBay sellers,  and the negative effect on sales both during the strike and also  after the strike has ended.

[muscoviteman]

It is in no way a threat. I don’t work at the post office and I do sell here.

It is sage advice. Of 50,000 post workers at least 10,000 are really unhappy with eBay right now. I don’t want them to know my packages are from eBay.

And it is 2018 and the working class share of income is declining. CEO’s, doctors, dentists, etc are getting richer. Workers getting poorer. Expect some disruption.

As for workers choice of working at the post office you have choices too. Use Fedex or apply for a job at the post office or elsewhere yourself if you think it is lucrative. The workers can choose to leave, choose to stay and fight for better compensation and working conditions, or stay and capitulate. I think I like the second one best.

Nuff said

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

This is all about cause and effect and the extended damage it does and the fact that no one seems accountable anymore for what has happened.

City shuts down a major street for road repairs. Affected companies see a major slow down in business so they reduce hours, lay off staff or worse yet are forced to close. Basically told to deal with it or receive minor band-aid solutions that don't solve the problems they've created.

A company(Insert name here) has a major problem with photos being lost to thousands of sellers. That company(Insert name here) takes a very long time to resolve. Sellers are forced to repair basically on their own and undo the damage they had no control of in the first place wasting their valuable time that could have been much better spent creating new listings. Compensation - Pitiful at best. This situation did not affect me but I felt everyone's pain throughout and how the situation was handled.

Canadapost goes on strike...What SHOULD be considered an Essential Service(Official & Un-Official Opinions vary) causing major uncertainty, delayed packages and loss of business to all sizes of business and especially online sellers? How long will it take to clean up this mess and restore customer confidence? Does anyone know? Will there be even be major efforts to try?  Canned apologies will do nothing to help fix this mess. Will there be future service improvements? Reductions to postage? At this point in time, I'm not holding my breath!!!

-CM

[marnotom!]

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@muscoviteman wrote:

And it is 2018 and the working class share of income is declining. CEO’s, doctors, dentists, etc are getting richer. Workers getting poorer. Expect some disruption.

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Agree with the gist of this, although in the struggling town in BC in which I live (resource-based economy which started hitting the skids about 20 years ago), even dentists aren't doing particularly well as the poverty rate here is so high that some health care services don't get utilized the way they do in more affluent centres.

[cumos55]

From the CUPW website.....   December 3, 2018

"We continue to hear of news that allies have blockaded Canada Post facilities in various locations. The labour movement is stepping up in a big way to support postal workers and fight for the right to free collective bargaining.  In Toronto, allies blocked the Gateway facility, facing down an injunction and police threats. In Halifax over the weekend, six people were arrested for blocking the Halifax Mail Processing Plant.  This morning we have heard of reports of blockades/pickets in Ottawa, Oshawa and Hamilton.  This comes after a weekend of demonstrations in 27 cities across the country."

[momcqueen]

Like I said earlier, it's as if their leadership is writing the book on How to Lose Your Right to Collective Bargaining Forever in 100 Days.

[katlover1952]

Doctors & dentists have to take a lot of training before they start making money & usually have huge debts to repay when they do. Have not seen too many postal workers that have that problem.

[vivian5612]

The postal strike is responsible for me putting my store on Vacation. Nov. has always been my biggest month for sales. This year it is my worst and that's including Oct when I shut my store down for 1 week when my husband was in the hospital. Today, I was faced with the prospect of paying my Ebay fees or buying supplies. Ebay has no intentions of giving us any leeway for time to pay (I asked Happy_Pigeon). I had no choice but to shut down my store until my pension cheque arrives at the end of the month and I can buy supplies. By that time I may have decided it is easier to do digital business of Etsy. At least a postal strike won't affect my WiFi.

[vivian5612]

Your comments are ridiculous. Yes, I would love to work as a letter carrier with a starting wage of $50,000. (Yes, I looked it up.) However, I am disabled which would preclude me walking a route. As for using Fedex my products are $3.29US. How can I justify using a courier service. Yes, come buy my fridge magnets but be prepared to pay over $20 in shipping. I don 't know about you but I wouldn't buy them at that price especially when American sellers are offering them at the same price and FREE shipping. This is not the 1800s or the early years of the 1900s when workers were the downtrodden masses who had no recourse but to strike for better conditions such as getting 1 day a week off, only 12 hour working days and having some degree of safety conditions such as ventilation when working with harmful chemicals. We do not live in Mayhew's London. If you can't carry the parcels then maybe you do need to look for another job as I'm sure there are many able-bodied people who would love your job.