City blaming work stoppage for late notice of tax changes ‘disingenuous’

Some members of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers in Winnipeg are taking issue with the City of Winnipeg pointing to the postal strike as a reason for not giving some residents more notice about changes to their Tax Instalment Payment Plan (TIPP).

In a news release, the City of Winnipeg said the Canada Post work stoppage may not receive a letter outlining the changes to their payments, which will go up 50 per cent, before they are automatically withdrawn on Jan. 1, 2025. 

“That should have been done weeks and weeks and weeks ago,” said Myron May, picket captain at the Wellington location. 

“It’s really disingenuous for them to be pointing fingers and playing the blame game with postal workers and Canada Post.”

May says the striking workers take no responsibility for the delayed delivery of the news, saying the City of Winnipeg “had plenty of time” to have the notices distributed through other means, including sending out the notice before the strike started. 

Information sent to CityNews by the City of Winnipeg indicated adjustments are due to the fact property owners participating in the City of Winnipeg’s TIPP program would have seen payment amounts lowered in 2024, due to the Manitoba School Tax Rebate, which was directly applied from July to December in 2024.

It explained the difference in the new year is due to tax changes by the province that will see the implementation of the Homeowners Affordability Property Tax Credit to replace the school rebate, offering residents a credit of up to $1,500 on their annual property tax bill. 

However, the change will see property owners required to spend more on their TIPP in January of 2025 when compared to December of this year. 

When asked about the concerns the postal strike is being wrongly blamed for news of the TIPP change being delivered late, a City of Winnipeg spokesman said the notice including the work stoppage was not meant as a slight on striking workers, who have been on the picket line since the middle of November. 

“We simply informed residents that they would have received the information via the mail; however, because of the Canada Post work stoppage, we had to resort to other measures to let residents know,” said the statement from the City of Winnipeg.

However, it appears striking postal workers may be back on the job sooner than expected. That’s because the Government of Canada’s Minister of Labour Steven MacKinnon has now ordered the Canadian Industrial Relations Board to examine the possibility of ending the job action. 

“Canadians cannot continue to bear the consequences of this impasse,” said MacKinnon in a statement. “Our priority is to restore postal services while ensuring a fair balance between the rights of workers, those of the employer, but also those of Canadians.”

If the Canadian Industrial Relations Board determines the two parties are too far apart to reach a deal, the term of the existing collective agreement will continue until May 22, 2025.