Seventeen people, including members of the union representing Canada Post workers and its president, were arrested Monday after trying to cross police lines at the Crown corporation's headquarters in Ottawa.

Police set up the line after officials from the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) warned they planned to storm the building.

Phillippe Duhamel is hauled away by police after he and other protesters were arrested for climbing over police barriers outside Canada Post headquarters in Ottawa on Monday.
(Fred Chartrand/ Canadian Press)

The union members said they wanted to find a document that allegedly outlines their employer's plans for post offices and processing plants across the country.

As television cameras rolled on Monday, protesters walked toward the police lines and were quickly placed under arrest.

CUPW president Deborah Bourque and its former president, Jean Claude Parrot, were among those charged with trespassing.

Bourque said her union had been requesting the document for months and was left with no option but to resort to public protests to make its point.

Moya Greene, the president and chief executive officer of Canada Post, said last week that the document does not exist.

Canada Post has already announced it is closing a plant in Quebec City.

CUPW represents about 54,000 postal workers nationwide.