For Immediate Release MILTON, ONTARIO - Postal workers delivered over 12,200 postcards of protest to Lisa Raitt, Minister responsible for Canada Post, today at her constituency office in Milton, Ontario. The postcards were signed by Canadians opposing postal downsizing and closures prior to the corporation's recent announcement that it intends to cut delivery and raise rates.
Volume 15 Number 2, December 2013 Help us learn more about the impact of domestic violence in the workplace. When workers experience domestic violence at home, the workplace is impacted. To date, no Canadian research has been done on the scope and impact of domestic violence in the workplace. A new research study being launched December 6, 2013 will help fill this gap.
The time has come to ensure workers have more financial security when they retire. An expanded Canada Pension Plan/Quebec Pension Plan (CPP/QPP) would do just that. Small increases in contributions would effectively double CPP/QPP benefits upon retirement.
Brussels, Ottawa and Quebec City – As European and Canadian trade officials meet again in Brussels today to continue negotiating an investment protection chapter in the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), transatlantic civil society groups are demanding that this chapter be removed entirely as an affront to democracy, an attack on the independent judiciary, and a threat to climate change and our shared environment.
Volume 41, Number 4, November 2013 - Postal unions and groups stood before a giant piggy bank emblazoned with the words “Banking on a Future for Canada Post” and called for financial and banking services at post offices during a media conference on October 16th.
Larry Rousseau, Regional Executive Vice President, Public Service Alliance of Canada - Last week, the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) publicly launched its campaign to have Canada Post pursue banking services as a future area of business. The proposal to expand Canada Post into financial services is an important opportunity to innovate by providing quality financial services for Canadians while ensuring the crown corporation's financial success over the long term.
The federal government has reached an agreement with the European Union (EU) on the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA). A leaked document indicates that CETA only partially protects postal services. Reports to date indicate that the agreement may also: • Unfairly restrict how local governments spend money and ban “buy local” policies. • Add up to $3 billion to the price of drugs. • Increase Canada’s trade deficit with Europe, leading to significant job losses. • Undermine protections for health care and culture. • Create pressure to increase privatization of local water systems, transit and energy. • Allow European corporations to challenge our laws, policies and programs through investor-state provisions, including environmental and health measures.
For Immediate Release -- OTTAWA – An inflatable piggy bank stood 12 feet tall behind Denis Lemelin, National President of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW), as he urged Canada Post Corporation to include postal banking services in its future. October 16th is Canada Post's 32nd anniversary as a Crown corporation. "We thought Canada Post's anniversary would be a good time to talk about what our public post office needs to do to survive and prosper in the future," said Lemelin. "We postal workers understand Canada Post's challenges, and have been advocating service expansion for many years. Our union has recently worked with the corporation on the same-day merchandise delivery trial project in Toronto. We are hoping the corporation will now work with us to add lucrative postal banking services."
A new website aimed at helping parents navigate Canada’s hit-and-miss child care patchwork was launched today. A buyer beware approach is necessary just as a surge of revelations about the risks of unknown, unregulated child care arrangements has drawn public attention in recent months. Findingqualitychildcare.ca informs parents about child care basics. “Confusion reigns about which child care is regulated, what’s legal and what isn’t, and what kind of oversight regulations actually provide,” said Martha Friendly, Executive Director of the Child Care Resource and Research Unit. “Many parents don’t know that all provinces have regulations and oversight for some home child care or that unlicensed full-day child care centres are not legal.”
In recent months, there have been a lot of media reports and discussions about the future of Canada Post. The debates started again last April, with the publication of a Conference Board of Canada report on the future of Canada Post. The Corporation took advantage of the situation by launching an on-line public consultative process and having “private” talks with various stakeholders. Several right-wing groups, such as the Fraser Institute and the C.D. Howe Institute, made sure to comment, each time attacking the public postal service and the rights of postal workers. And each and every time, we responded with our own solution, i.e. the expansion of services, including financial and banking services.
Support Postal Banking - Download and Sign the Petition
Canada needs a postal bank. Thousands of rural towns and villages in our country do not have a bank, but many of them have a post office that could provide financial services. As well, nearly two million Canadians desperately need an alternative to payday lenders. A postal bank could be that alternative. Download and sign the petition urging the Government of Canada to instruct Canada Post to add postal banking, with a mandate for financial inclusion.
Yesterday, August 20, CUPW’s Negotiating Committees returned to the bargaining table to present comprehensive global offers for both the RSMC and Urban bargaining units.
While we had planned to meet again tomorrow, Canada Post has told us today that it needs more time to review our offers.
Tomorrow, August 20, your Negotiating Committee will return to the bargaining table to present new global offers for both postal bargaining units to Canada Post.
Unfortunately, our scheduled meetings for Friday, August 15th and Monday, August 18th, have been postponed. The Federal mediators will not be able to assist CUPW and CPC due to their current involvement in the Air Canada negotiations.
This September, CUPW joins its Malayali brothers and sisters with joy and pride to observe Onam celebrations in Canada. Onam is one of the most significant regional festivals celebrated in Kerala, the southernmost state of India.
After pressing the Employer to come back to the bargaining table early last week, we received a response from Canada Post CEO Doug Ettinger on Friday evening, just hours after we posted Bulletin 128, “CUPW is Waiting for Canada Post.” In his letter, Mr. Ettinger stuck to the lines we’ve heard from Canada Post for many months now.