Welcome to the 2023 edition of the Rose magazine! Every year CUPW proudly releases a new Rose to coincide with International Women’s Day. CUPW is made up of strong, passionate, and dedicated women, who, every day, work to improve the lives of CUPW members either on the workfoor, through Union organizing, educationals, and through various positions locally, regionally and nationally. The Rose is a vehicle not only to honour many of these women, but also to talk about the issues that affect us at work and in life.
Our history as women in the postal service has been a long struggle for equality. Today, women make up half of Canada Post’s workforce, but we need to remember some of our achievements along the way.
This year marks the 27th anniversary of the murders of 14 women at École Polytechnique in Montréal, Québec. The December 6th Montreal Massacre specifically targeted women and feminists and since then, December 6th has been commemorated as the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence against Women.
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.
Volume 15, Number 1, March 2013 - This article explores the Idle No More movement through the eyes of three CUPW Sisters who are actively involved: Darlene Kaboni, from the Wikwemikong First Nation, Dodie Ferguson, from the Cowessess First Nation and Diane Mitchell, a Métis descendant from Ottawa. What is the Idle No More movement about? The Idle No More movement, which began in November 2012, has sparked creative actions and protest from coast to coast to coast in response to Bill C-45, the government’s sweeping omnibus budget legislation, and several other bills, which affect treaty rights and the environment.
In early 1912, in the textile manufacturing centre of Lawrence, Massachusetts, over 20,000 workers walked out of the mills to protest a rollback in their already meagre pay. When the work week was reduced by law from 56 to 54 hours a week, the textile bosses cut back the workers’ wages to match. The massive walk-out, organized by the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), became known as the “Three Loaves Strike,” referring to what could be bought for the amount that wages were being cut, “The Singing Strike” because the songs of the IWW were being heard everywhere, and “The Bread and Roses Strike” because young women workers carried a banner with the slogan “We want bread and roses too.” The strike was begun and led by mainly immigrant women, creating unity and solidarity across ethnic, religious and cultural lines.
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.
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.
A week ago, CUPW members spoke loudly and rejected what Canada Post called its “best and final” offers. The goal of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers remains negotiating ratifiable collective agreements which meet postal workers’ needs, help grow the current services provided by a public post office and to better serve Canadians with new services.
Last week, postal workers decisively rejected Canada Post’s “best and final offers” in the government-forced vote. With a turnout of over 80%, nearly 70% of our members told Canada Post, “No, these offers won’t do it!”
Every employer in the Federal and Provincial sector has been watching us. Rejecting these offers was a victory not only for our Union, but for the labour movement as a whole.
To all CUPW members,
Thank you for showing up, for standing together, and for participating in the government forced vote. Regardless of how you voted, your participation was an act of solidarity and strength. And for those who voted to reject the final offers, your decision sent a powerful message: “We know our worth, and we deserve better”.
After almost two weeks of voting, the results are now in: CUPW members in both bargaining units have spoken, and they have rejected Canada Post’s global offers.
We’ve now entered the second and final week of the government-imposed forced vote on Canada Post’s “final” offers. As of July 28, 69 % of Urban members and 71.4 % of RSMC members have already casted their vote. Voting continues until 5 pm EST on August 1.
On March 24, 2021, the House of Commons voted to designate August 1st as Emancipation Day to commemorate the slavery abolition act of 1833, which took effect in 1834 and paved the way for the liberation of over 800,000 enslaved Black people across the “British Empire”, including parts of the Caribbean, Africa, South America and Canada.
On July 23, Canada Post shared some information about its “final” offers and the vote that is currently underway with members. Information was shared via email as well as distributed in some workplaces.