Sisters, Brothers, Friends,
This moment is crucial in our struggle. Canada Post, supported by the Federal Government, is trying to weaken our Union and diminish our bargaining power. On June 12, the Minister of Jobs and Families, Patty Hajdu, took the unprecedented step of forcing us to vote on Canada Post’s so-called “best and final” offers. This action bypasses the bargaining demands that you put forward and ratified, disregards your representation by the negotiation committees, and undermines the very foundation of free and fair collective bargaining.
On January 24th we received confirmation from Arbitrator Elizabeth McPherson regarding the issues in dispute that will be argued at Arbitration.
Arbitrator McPherson was appointed by the Government on December 10th, 2018 to arbitrate the RSMC and Urban Collective Agreements as a result of the Back to Work Legislation that was imposed on November 26th, 2018.
The first two days of hearings, in front of Arbitrator MacPherson, are now complete. Much of the time was spent clarifying the “matters” that are still in dispute and will be argued during the arbitration. After hearing the submissions from the CUPW and Canada Post counsels, the arbitrator made her ruling on the matters that are in dispute.
The arbitration process, imposed on us in the back to work legislation, officially begins on Wednesday, January 16, 2019. Your negotiating committee and our legal counsel, along with Canada Post representatives, will meet with Arbitrator Elizabeth MacPherson to discuss the issues in dispute and the arbitration process.
As the debate carries on over the back to work legislation, your negotiating committee is continuing to work with mediator Mr. Morton Mitchnick. We will continue as long as we can to attempt and achieve negotiated collective agreements. Legislation and arbitration are not the way to resolve this dispute and to try and improve the relationship between CUPW and Canada Post.
In an effort to achieve negotiated collective agreements and end the strike activities, the Minister of Labour, Ms Patty Hajdu has given mediator Mr. Morton Mitchnick another mandate.
This government has said they agree that a negotiated settlement is the best resolution in the long run, they believe in free collective bargaining and agreed to renew the mandate of the mediator Morton Mitchnick for a short period of time. CUPW believes that the threat of back-to-work legislation will undermine the chances of negotiated settlements. We’ll do our best to reach a negotiated settlement as quickly as possible with the assistance of the mediator. We will see shortly if this was a real attempt to achieve negotiated settlements.
Your negotiating committee worked long hours all weekend with the assistance of Mediator Morton Mitchnick, in an attempt to unblock what seemed to be an impasse. We met with both the mediator and Canada Post numerous times over the weekend and we will continue to meet with the objective to achieve negotiated settlements. Your negotiators are determined to get the agreements that you deserve.
On Wednesday, October 24, 2018, Minister of Labour Ms Patty Hajdu appointed Mr. Morton Mitchnick as a special mediator to assist the parties in reaching negotiated collective agreements. Your negotiating committee will work with the special mediator and Mr. Peter Simpson, Director General of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Services, to achieve the improvements that we need in our collective agreements.
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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.