Canadian Postal Workers: Strike vs. Lockout
Posted June 1, 2011 by shaun in In the News
This came down the wire a bit late, you can follow up on the daily details and updates from the union here (the following info isn't from the union itself).
CANADIAN POSTAL WORKERS NEED OUR SUPPORT!
Sometime after May 25th 45,000 Postal Workers across Canada may either be on strike or locked out from their workplace by their employer, Canada Post Corporation (CPC). Since January 31 of this year postal workers have been working without a contract. The Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) and Canada Post have been in bargaining since October of last year but have failed to come to an agreement on several issues.
CANADA POST WANTS TO:
-Pay new employees 30% less and give them reduced benefits, an inferior pension and weaker job security.
-Increase the amount of temporary employees and reduce the number of full-time employees.
-Dramatically increase the amount that retirees have to pay for their extended health care plan.
-Replace the sick leave plan with a complicated and inferior short‐term
disability plan.
-Force letter carriers to adopt a new, unsafe delivery procedure involving longer routes and the carrying of double bundles.
The plan is obvious. The CPC wants to roll back the standards then impose them on all its employees in the future.
Canada Post Corporation is a crown corporation. It has been profitable for the last 16 years. In its last reported year, 2009, Canada Post declared a net profit of $281 million. Instead of sharing some of those profits with postal workers, the CPC decided to purchase 2 billion dollars worth of machinery in an effort to “modernize” the postal system by reducing the work force, attacking the benefits and working conditions of the postal workers.
Postal workers want the CPC to make a modern post that works for the workers and the communities they serve. Instead the CPC and the Harper government hope to create precarious working conditions, ignore the workers' voices, cutback services and increase profits with the eventual aim of privatizing our postal service.
When the CPC attacks postal workers they are attacking people who live and work in our communities. This is an assault on all of us. The CPC, with the blessing of the Harper government, is looking to profit off the backs of working people. This assault is part of the broader Harper agenda of creating corporate profits at our expense.
The struggle of the postal workers is part of the struggle for social justice and against the regressive Harper government. Together, postal workers and community allies can beat back this assault on our postal workers and our communities.
YOU CAN SUPPORT POSTAL WORKERS BY:
-Educate yourself on the issues and stay informed about the struggle
-Talk to your friends, neighbours, family, coworkers, community groups, church groups etc. about the issues
-Put up signs of support in your window
-Go down to the picket lines (on Almond Street), with food or signs of support
-Write letters to the editor in your local newspaper
-Call your local radio station
-Organize fun and creative actions that raise awareness about the issues
For more ideas on how you can support postal workers visit
www.supportpostalworkers.wordpress.com
or email welovepostalworkers at mail.com
For current updates about the postal workers struggle visit www.cupw.ca
An injury to one is an injury to all!
Comments
Bean hit the nail on the head.
All this is going to do is hasten the demise of Canada Post. Everything is going digital. This strike is going to end up costing union members their jobs due to layoffs in the future.
Some people just don't know how good they have it.
Bean and Chris, pls buzz off. The Post can't run without its workers and this strike is hitting CP management where it hurts.
You are missing the point.
All this strike does is prove that Canadians don't rely on Canada Post anymore.
Everyday this strike continues will cost workers their jobs, as people find alternatives to snail mail.
Mail has already dropped 50% since the strike started. A lot of that is business that Canada Post will never get back.
Canada Post workers are effectively signing their own pink slips.
let me get this straight... Canada Post wants to start expecting people to actually do some work, pay them accordingly and maybe have a little profit to invest into other social programmes or pay down some of out national debt? Gotcha
I love how everyone becomes an "expert" and lacks any understanding how important rural and nortehren mail delivery is. Furtehr, i recall Andrew Cioyne making similar comments in 1997 as posties struck..they were "irrelevant" and the posytal service was passe he said...flip to a week or two later where the same man was calling for back to work legislation because of the economic impact of the strike..noe of this prattle is new but still misguided. Has it occurred to anyone that internet commerece has resulted in MORE not less goods being sent through the mail. It makes money, it provides a service, it puts good jobs and benefits in communitites and pays dividends to the government...this was the union that also heard they were communitst when they fought for parental (maternity) leave --- which almost all Canadains now enjoy. Postal workers were called dinosaurs then by people who now enjoy those same rights. Ah yes, everyone is an expert. Also, letter carriers are frequently on forced overtimne, in the worst climate, expected to go out everyday and have a very high injury rate. Imagine yourself out in 30 degree below zero slop day after day where people have not locked up their dogs or shovelled their walks - while schools are closed and people are sent home letter carriers are still expected to deliver. Due to staffing cutts many are working forced overtime day after day. These "experts" that post should get their facts straight, know something of which they speak, or, in the most ludicrous cases, just stop trolling.
Reality check for your union. We're in a recession, there's a lot of people looking for jobs right now. If you're not happy with your wages go try and get a job else where, might be a little tough but I'm sure someone more appreciative could replace you in your very comfy government union job.
I'm enjoying the switch over to electronic billing, it's become much more reliable. It's a shame though that so many jobs are going to be lost forever just because a union got greedy, So many non union workers could have supported there families with those jobs, and they would of done it with a smile on there faces.
The facts are the facts. Canada Post is a profit whore and they are trying to further profit off the backs of their workers. The union is not making unreasonable demands. They want new workers to enjoy the same pay and benefits as those who started last year. Think about a friend or family member of yours looking for work who is lucky enough to find themselves employed by Canada Post and making the decent wage that the union has fought for over the years. Would you begrudge your friend or relative that decent living? No. You would be happy for their good fortune and encourage them to work hard and keep that good job. Now, how would you feel about that friend or relative being shafted by over $6.00 an hour and getting less job security for the same job that some another postie hired a year prior started at. Not so good, I would think. What we all need to realize is that the unions, all of them, are the ones responsible for forcing fat cat employers to ensure our safety and job standards. They need our support and our understanding. It may be hard to feel pity for someone who makes nearly double the minimum wage you have to slave for, but if not for them and those like them, we would all be in a far worse position. Educate yourselves on what unions do, empathize with how those who have stood outside waiting for a reasonable offer to be negotiated with a government corporation hell bent on minimizing the cost of good labour practices at the cost of the human element and finally think on what is right not just what is propagandized.
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The union and workers should be aware that a strike will force those who continue to rely on snail mail to find and discover alternatives which happen to be less expensive. Whether it is a business changing to emailing statements to customers, setting up online banking to pay vendors, emailing promotions, etc.. In short this strike will result in a further erosion of Canada Post Usage. I'm a small business owner and have just discover the convenience and savings of paying my vendors via online banking thanks to the loomingn strike. Be careful don't cut off your nose to spite your face...the world is changing...change with it.
Posted by: Bean at June 2, 2011 12:33 PM