On Saturday, over 1000 postal workers and allies gathered in Montreal and marched to Prime Minister Trudeau’s constituency office to deliver our message to the government. It is time for Canada Post to negotiate seriously with us and address the issues that are key to achieving new collective agreements.
As we prepare to attend rallies across the country over the next few days to invite the Liberal Government to get involved and tell Canada Post to negotiate seriously, it is time to plan our next move. It is time for our actions to intensify. Canada Post management must get the message that we are, and have always been, ready to sit down and hammer out the terms and conditions for our new collective agreements and we expect the same from them.
MONTREAL -Postal workers and friends will rally at the Prime Minister’s constituency office in Montreal on Saturday, August 6th to call for decent pensions, pay equity and a sustainable public postal service.
On August 6, 2016, postal workers and their supporters will be gathering in Montreal and other communities across our country to send a strong message to the shareholder and owner of Canada Post - the Government of Canada. The Canada Post Negotiating Committee must come to the table ready to settle the key issues and work with us to achieve negotiated collective agreements.
Canada Post isn’t taking some of our key negotiations issues seriously. We want the Liberal government to use its considerable influence to ensure that a government institution like Canada Post is onside with its objectives of improving pensions, pay equity and public postal service. Please bring your friends and family and join us in Montreal.
The attack on Urban workers is directly related to the inequities that RSMC members face. The only way to stop these attacks is to achieve full equity for RSMCs. CPC’s initial position was to attack the following Urban benefits and working conditions. All of these are benefits that the RSMCs do not have:
Yesterday, we updated you on the history and timelines of this round of negotiations. We are sure that many of you are now asking what comes next. At this point in the process, that is the million dollar question but we all need to be prepared for anything. We all need to continue doing what we are doing and keep the pressure on Canada Post to seriously negotiate.
Negotiations between the parties have now been underway for over eight months. They began on November 20, 2015, intensified starting in April 2016, and are still ongoing. On June 25, 2016, the employer presented the Union with two global offers. Canada Post initially said that these were the best offers it could make under the circumstances. On July 1st, 2016, the Union submitted two global offers of its own to the employer.
We have taken a strong stand against two-tier wages, benefits and pensions throughout our history. CUPW has stood strong on this issue and we will continue to do so. The current wage structure in the Urban Ops collective agreement may not meet the definition of two-tier because all employees will eventually reach the same maximum rate but it is not a fair system. This wage structure has one group of employees with a starting rate that is over $5.00 per hour lower than the other employees that they work alongside. It also takes these employees 7 years to reach the maximum rate, once they become regular employees while their co-workers reach the maximum in 5 years. CPC and the previous government forced this unfair wage system on us during the last round of negotiations and now is the time to correct this injustice.
Proper staffing is important for many reasons; health and safety, morale, reducing overtime and providing good service to the public. Has Canada Post done anything during this round of negotiations to improve staffing? Has Canada Post proposed a real solution to these issues? NO!
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.
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.
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.