In 1910, Clara Zetkin, the feisty German orator and activist, gave a speech at the International Socialist Women’s conference in Copenhagen. She proposed that “the socialist women of all nationalities will hold each year a Women’s Day, whose foremost purpose it must be to aid the attainment of women’s suffrage.” The first International Women’s Day (IWD) was held in March 1911. Originally known as International Working Women’s Day, the occasion celebrates women’s rights and gives us an opportunity to act for change. People all over the world still voice their demands for a better world on March 8th every year.
Negotiations continue between CUPW and CPC for 48,000 members in urban operations. These negotiations reflect the deep division which exists between the parties. While both parties agree that Canada Post faces future challenges because of the erosion of mail volumes, there are vast differences in the solutions being proposed by management and the union.
Everywhere we look these days, bad news is hitting us hard. It’s easy to get discouraged when workers’ struggles all over the world are being met with fierce resistance.
Spring is here, and with it an increased risk of dog bites. Every year, hundreds of mail carriers across the country report dog-related incidents. Unfortunately, many mail carriers are permanently scarred by dog attacks that could have been prevented.
It takes guts to be a RSMC. It takes guts to be a RSMC if you’re a woman. I am a RSMC and, like 66% of RSMCs, I am a woman. I know the highs and lows of this job.
The Union continues to move forward with our ambitious plan to unite all postal sector workers into one strong postal union, the Canadian Union of Postal Workers.
We all know the chant. Unfortunately, it is not that easy to stop Manulife from intruding on our medical affairs. Depending on the nature of an employee’s illness or injury, employers do have legitimate rights in terms of the disclosure of medical information. But employees also have a right to privacy.1 As an agent of Canada Post, hired to “manage” our injuries and illnesses, Manulife has no more right than Canada Post does to harass us. Medical status is best determined by a physician rather than someone without any first-hand medical knowledge. But Canada Post follows the recommendations of Manulife rather than the advice of doctors. That is why members should always contact the Union to help them with what is often referred to as the “Manulife nightmare.”
On the evening of October 4th 2009, we stood with friends holding candles in the darkness on Parliament Hill. We were attending the Sisters in Spirit Vigil, one of 72 gatherings across the country to honour the lives of missing and murdered Aboriginal women and girls. Women came together to remember, to grieve and to share their stories of personal loss. Families held up pictures of their loved ones and spoke of their unending pain.
New equipment under Modern Post - In the Fall 2008 issue of Our Health Our Safety, we published “Health and Safety and the Modern Post.” Since then, we’ve obtained more information about the type of equipment Canada Post intends to purchase to carry out its “postal transformation.” A CUPW delegation also visited the Toshiba plant in the Tokyo area to review the new mail sorting equipment. Below you’ll find a preliminary overview of this equipment.
(Our Health Our Safety • Volume 7 • Issue 1 • Summer 2009) An increasing amount of research has been published that suggests a link exists between night work and cancer. In several major studies, researchers have found that workers on the night shift show increased rates of cancer. The research Workers with atypical work schedules show a higher risk of developing cancer than people in the general population, according to research published by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), an agency of the World Health Organization, in the December 2007 issue of The Lancet Oncology Medical Journal. A team of 24 scientists found that atypical working hours disturbed the body’s internal biological clock, which could be one cause for the appearance of cancer. They argued that more study was needed on this issue to confirm the cause and effect relationship.
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.
CUPW is looking for members who are interested in being part of the Regional Internal Organizing Committee
During the last convention, the Regional Internal Organizing Committees were formalized as per clause 4.15 of the National Constitution, with a mandate to, among other things, promote the benefits of organizing by developing materials and tools that facilitate work floor mobilization and to identify effective actions in the continued fight for worker rights.
Today, January 27, CUPW and Canada Post presented their first in person submissions to the Industrial Inquiry Commission in front of Commissioner William Kaplan regarding the questions Minister MacKinnon asked under Section 108 of the Canada Labour Code.
On Monday, January 27, the first hearing of the Industrial Inquiry Commission will be held in Ottawa. This Commission was convened by the Minister of Labour Steven MacKinnon under section 108 of the Canada Labour Code.
On January 20, Indigenous activist Leonard Peltier has had his life sentence commuted by outgoing US President Joe Biden. For nearly 50 years, much of it in solitary confinement, Peltier has been imprisoned for murder following a 1975 confrontation between the FBI and American Indian Movement (AIM) at the Pine Ridge Indian reservation in South Dakota.
Deadline to apply: March 9, 2025
Labour College, the Canadian Labour Congress’ (CLC) flagship trade union leadership development program, is a unique learning opportunity for union leaders and active members to learn new skills and take on the challenges that face the labour movement. It provides university level courses on issues related to work and the rights of workers in Canada. It gives graduates the necessary tools to be effective leaders in their union, their labour council, and the wider labour movement for the benefit of all workers.
As you may be aware, on December 13th, 2024, Minister of labour McKinnon ordered under section 107 of the Canada Labour code for the CIRB to determine if the parties were “likely” to achieve a collective agreement by December 31st, 2024. If the CIRB was to answer negatively to the above question, they were to order the Corporation and its employees to resume and continue their operations and duties until May 22nd, 2025.