Windsor postal workers are feeling optimistic as a national strike deadline looms.
Both sides remain at the bargaining table to try and hammer out a collective agreement before the September 26 deadline for a strike or lockout.
They held a noon hour public information rally Friday outside of the Windsor Processing Plant on Walker Rd.
The Canadian Union of Postal Workers or C.U.P.W also celebrated an arbitrator's ruling on Thursday which will see rural postal workers across the country paid nearly the same as urban workers.
It amounts to a 25% pay increase for rural workers and will affect workers in Essex County.
"We were ecstatic," says CUPW Local President Phil Lyons. "It was one of the biggest wins in CUPW's history, we have never believed that you should have workers going the same job with a big disparity in pay and benefits."
"I think a lot of our rural members felt like they were second class citizens," he adds. "Hopefully this goes a long way to let them know that they are part of this company, they are part of the union and they are one of us and will be paid like one of us."
As for contract talks, Lyons says the key issue is OT
"Forced overtime is one of the big ones, we have people working 55 to 65 hours a week, a little overtime is ok, but when it goes on for years, it starts to wear on these people."
There are 500 mail carriers in Windsor.
The contract for postal workers expired in December 2017.