Over the years, the Union’s top priority has been and continues to be to ensure that temporary employees have access to regular employment and that these employees, as well as part-time employees, have access to regular full-time positions. This not only ensures that they can move up the salary ladder based on their length of service as regular employees, but also gives them full rights to all benefits including, the extended health care plan and the defined benefit pension plan, to name a few.
While the Arbitrator did not completely fix the multiple bundle delivery method for letter carriers, she did award other language that will help to address the issue of overburdening on letter carrier routes.
The Union argued to Arbitrator MacPherson that regular employees of the Urban Unit as of the date of her decision should have full job security, meaning a limited radius of 40 kilometres for relocation if they are declared surplus. Canada Post wanted to remove this protection from the collective agreement by obtaining a letter of intent granting this protection, but only until the expiry date of the collective agreement, January 31, 2022. In addition, Canada Post asked the arbitrator to allow it not to fill vacant positions in Group 2 when a surplus is anticipated.
Job Retention is new for RSMCs. Since RSMCs are now paid the derived hourly rate of Letter Carriers, there could be an incentive for Canada Post to contract out bargaining unit work. CUPW needed to ensure the work that RSMCs perform every day is protected.
At a time when many workers are losing job security protections, CUPW has been successful in securing job security for RSMCs! CUPW was clear from the outset, to both the Arbitrator and the Corporation, that this was one of our key demands for RSMCs for this round of bargaining.
Arbitrator MacPherson awarded the Urban and RSMC bargaining units the same wage increases as follows: 2018: 2.0%; 2019: 2.0%; 2020: 2.5%; 2021: 2.9%; The RSMC increases are effective January 1st of each year and the Urban increases are effective February 1st of each year as these are the effective dates of the collective agreements. The duration of each agreement is 4 years.
Arbitrator MacPherson maintained the Cost of Living Allowance (COLA) in the Urban contract and introduced it into the RSMC contract in accordance with the terms of the 2018 Pay equity award of Arbitrator Flynn. The terms of the COLA are the same as agreed to by the parties.
*This bulletin applies to those who retire on or after June 11, 2020. Now that Arbitrator MacPherson has come down with her decision on the Urban and RSMC contracts, many members are thinking of retiring. We want to explain what members are entitled to when it comes to benefits when they retire and what their obligations are when they want to retire*. Coverage for post-retirement benefits are for eligible retirees, their eligible dependents or surviving dependents. Life Insurance coverage only applies to eligible retirees and not their dependents.
During the arbitration process imposed through Bill C-89, CUPW proposed many changes to the payment of hours worked by RSMCs, including regular, overtime, and weekend hours. For us, it is inconceivable that a worker would not be paid for all his or her hours of work.
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On Monday, May 19, CUPW issued a 72-hour strike notice to Canada Post. This action was not taken lightly, but it was done for several reasons.
The collective agreements for the Urban Postal Operations and the Rural and Suburban Mail Carriers bargaining units, which were extended by the Government in December 2024, are set to expire Friday, May 23 at midnight.
Commissioner Kaplan’s report of the Industrial Inquiry Commission skews heavily in favour of Canada Post’s positions and recommendations. We fundamentally disagree with the bulk of its recommendations and challenge some of the information on which it was based. We have also objected to the entire process, but we felt that we had to participate in order to give voice to postal workers. The report also outlines three possible steps forward after May 22. It is important to note that this is not a done deal. It is up to Minister Patty Hajdu to decide what to do with the report – if anything at all.
May 18 is Tamil Genocide Remembrance Day. Every year, on this day, we remember the Tamil people who have died since 1948 because of the genocide committed against the Tamil people by the Sri Lankan state, including the massacre in Mullivaikkal, Sri Lanka, in May 2009.
We received Commissioner Kaplan’s lengthy report today on bargaining between CUPW and Canada Post. It comes out of the Industrial Inquiry Commission convened by the former Minister of Labour, Steven MacKinnon, under section 108 of the Canada Labour Code.
Canada Post put out a message today to all CUPW members in the Urban Postal Operations and Rural and Suburban Mail Carriers units about benefits coverage and working conditions upon the expiry of the collective agreements on May 22.
This afternoon, Canada Post negotiators informed CUPW that they were leaving the bargaining table, calling it a “temporary pause,” to put together another set of offers. Canada Post would not provide a date for when the Union will receive these proposals. It could be in a few days; it could be next week. Given the seriousness of the matter, it is reprehensible to keep workers and the public on edge when we should all be focused on negotiating good collective agreements that will benefit workers and grow our public service to meet the needs of all Canadians.
The Union has been actively pursuing confirmation from Canada Post that it will respect the post-retirement benefits entitlements of retiring members. The Union was looking to confirm that members who retire will be eligible for post-retirement benefits in the event that the retirement would occur during a labour disruption.
Many members and their dependants are on prescription drugs commonly known as maintenance drugs or long-term medications. These are drugs you may take on a regular basis to treat conditions such as high cholesterol, high blood pressure or diabetes.
As reported in Negotiations Bulletin #75, CUPW and Canada Post returned to the bargaining table on Wednesday and Thursday this week in Ottawa. The meetings were facilitated by two Mediators from the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Services (FMCS) who are very familiar with our file.
This May, CUPW proudly joins the Asian community across Canada in celebrating
ASIAN HERITAGE MONTH. It’s a time to honour the history and rich cultural contributions of Canadians of Asian descent.