The National Work Measurement Committee (NWMC) meeting was attended by 2 members from every region, except for the Québec region. Brother Sylvain Lapointe, who is the regional grievance officer from Montréal as well as a negotiator for the urban collective agreement, was present for the entire meeting.
Quality child care can give you peace of mind and help you balance family and work. What’s more, it has a positive impact on your child’s physical, emotional, social and intellectual development.
Finding a quality child care setting takes time, research and hard work. But it’s well worth the effort since your child’s well being is at stake. This step-by-step guide can help you find quality child care. But it’s by no means comprehensive. Parents are strongly encouraged to do more research on quality care. The local’s child care resource centre is a good place to start.
Research shows that high quality child care plays a positive and long-lasting role in the social and intellectual development of children, no matter what their social, cultural and economic background. Lack of access to high quality child care can cause high stress for working parents: worry about their children's well being while at work, and conflicts with employers and co-workers due to lateness or absences. Lack of high quality child care also keeps women from entering and participating fully in the paid labour force.
The Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) is one of a very few unions in North America to negotiate a Child Care Fund to support members with their child care needs. In 1997 CUPW commissioned SpeciaLink (a research and resource agency specializing in child care issues involving children with special needs) to examine the impact on members’ work and family lives when parenting a child with special needs. CUPW wanted to find out if the supports provided through the Child Care Fund were helpful to CUPW families and their children with special needs.
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.
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.
On Wednesday, January 15th, the first of three scheduled days of bargaining between CUPW and Canada Post took place with the intent of achieving negotiated collective agreements for both the Urban Operations and Rural and Suburban Mail Carriers units.
Canada Post deducted union dues on your December 31, 2024 pay, representing the dues from pay period # 27 (December 2024). Your January 16th pay will include dues owed for pay period # 1 (January 2025). These two pay periods represent dues at the 2023 rate of $90.61.
To commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Rural and Suburban Mail Carriers becoming members of CUPW in 2004, CUPW published “Road to Equality”, a book about the courage, determination and solidarity of the Suburban Mail Carriers.
There has been an important development in our ongoing efforts to secure negotiated collective agreements for Urban and RSMC members. In addition to the work being done through the Inquiry Commission, a parallel three-day negotiation process will also be taking place on January 15, 16, and 17. William Kaplan, who was appointed by the Minister of Labour Steven MacKinnon to carry out the Commission, will be taking on the role of Mediator.
In our recent bulletins, we have talked a lot about sections 107 and 108 of the Canada Labour Code. These were the sections of the Code that the Government invoked to end our strike and force us to return to work last December. Unlike the back-to-work legislation we have been subject to in the past, the section 107 order was not debated or voted on in Parliament. The Liberal government made this decision alone.
The beginning of 2025 is marked by a period of extreme cold across the country. After a hectic autumn at Canada Post, and after having their right to strike denied by Minister MacKinnon in mid-December, postal workers were greeted back to work by milder weather during the holiday period. Mother Nature may have a few pleasant surprises in store for us during the winter of 2025, but we need to be prepared for the cold temperatures ahead and take all the necessary steps to work safely.
A new year has begun, and with it, the Union faces new challenges and new opportunities. The first five months of 2025 are shaping up to be particularly important. Public hearings for Commissioner William Kaplan’s Industrial Inquiry Commission are scheduled to begin January 27 and 28. While the hearings will take place in Ottawa, proceedings will be livestreamed for wider viewing. Mr. Kaplan is due to publish his final report on May 15.