Members of the CUPW Vancouver Local:
Negotiations between CUPW and Canada Post are set to begin this month after our membership, both locally and nationally, voted overwhelmingly in favour of the National Program of Demands. It is critical for all of us to understand the issues, what we stand to lose, and why we need to show strong support for our Negotiating Committee, who will be working hard to ensure that we emerge from this round of collective bargaining with a contract that is based on three principles: respect, equality and sharing the benefits of new technology.
Already we are hearing mutterings from Canada Post that suggest they will rely heavily upon the “financial hardship” argument at the bargaining table. It is important to consider that Canada Post had an extremely profitable year in 2009, in the midst of a struggling global economy, making a record $319,000,000 in profits.
You will be receiving a great deal of information over the coming months, both from CUPW and Canada Post. Please stay informed. Think critically and carefully. Weigh all of the information available to you. Consider your future. Your health and safety, job security, and overall job satisfaction are all at stake. We, the workers, have made Canada Post the strong and successful company that it is. We, the workers, have built a relationship of trust with the Canadian public that has directly resulted in Canada Post earning the reputation of the most trusted federal institution in Canada. We, the workers, have accomplished so much. Together, we have the strength and power to accomplish so much more; together, we can determine the outcome of these negotiations.
What Do We Stand
to Lose?
Sick Leave
From a health and safety perspective, it is anticipated that the greatest threat to us during this round of contract negotiations will be the attempt on Canada Post’s part to make drastic changes to our sick leave entitlement.
Under the current Collective Agreement, we are granted 15 sick days per year to protect us from wage loss in the event of illness and injury. Canada Post has indicated their intention to eliminate our current sick leave entitlement and introduce a short-term disability (STD) plan to CUPW members, which would be administered by Manulife.
UPCE members working for Canada Post provided their bargaining team with an 88% strike mandate during their 2008 negotiations, largely based on their opposition to the STD plan offered to them by Canada Post. The UPCE strike lasted for 5 weeks until Canada Post was willing to offer limited improvements to their STD plan. What they ended up with is 7 personal days per year, consisting of “urgent” and “non-urgent” days. The urgent days are used to cover illness and injury, and the non-urgent days can be used to cover absences of a non-urgent nature, but are only available subject to operational requirements. Currently, we hear from members that most requests to use compensatory time, or take time off without pay are denied – due to operational requirements.
Canada Post employees are massively overrepresented in Canadian injury statistics. According to the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, Canada Post employees represent only 6% of federal workers, but sustain 20% of the disabling injuries among federal workers. Clearly, our jobs put us at risk of injury. We can not afford to lose the protection that our current sick leave entitlement offers when we are injured on the job, or when we become sick and are unable to work. The Negotiating Committee will take a strong stand to ensure that we continue to be protected with adequate sick leave entitlement.
Safe Work Practices for
Letter Carriers
Other threats to our health and safety that need to be addressed in our new Collective Agreement are those associated with the new technologies, equipment, and work methods that will be implemented with Postal Transformation. In advance of contract negotiations, CUPW hired an independent ergonomist to study the delivery methods proposed by Canada Post. It was found that the proposed method of delivery is “likely to increase the risk of injury by both increasing the joint demand and the amount of sustained posture and muscle exertion”.
The study also found that the two-bundle delivery method, which has been endorsed by Canada Post and will have letter carriers holding a bundle of mail in their dominant hand and another in the crook of the same arm, increased the risk of slips, trips and falls, as it has the letter carrier holding a large bundle of mail in front, thereby reducing visibility to the ground. This method also hinders the letter carrier’s movement and makes it impossible to use both hands, resulting in stress and strain while the letter carrier attempts to reach different types of mail receptacles. The Negotiating Committee will be demanding that no letter carrier shall be required to carry more than one bundle of mail while delivering on route.
Safe Work Practice for
Inside Workers
Multiple problems with the new MLOCR machines have been reported by workers operating these machines. Problems that are occurring include: mail flying out of the stackers and hitting workers in the face; carts that are too heavy and too high to push; standing on concrete without anti-fatigue matting for long periods of time; having to bend too low, and stretch and lift over the shoulder and head. Workers who testified recently at arbitration hearings on the implementation of the Modern Post stated that at the end of their shifts on the MLOCR they are often having to take Advil for the pain they are experiencing due to sore backs, shoulders and necks. This is unacceptable – we should not have to work in pain. The Negotiating Committee will be demanding that ergonomic and other studies be conducted on the impact of new technologies, equipment and new work methods with the objective of identifying and eliminating all health and safety hazards.
These are just some of the issues related to health and safety that should be of concern to all postal workers. The Negotiating Committee will be coming to the bargaining table to represent us and advocate for our health and safety. Let’s stand behind them, show our support, and let Canada Post know that our health and safety can not be compromised.
Wendy Lund
Health and Safety Director
CUPW Vancouver
[email protected]
Our Labour Unions are not narrow, self-seeking groups. They have raised wages, shortened hours, and provided supplemental benefits. Through collective bargaining and grievance procedures, they have brought justice and democracy to the shop floor.
President John F. Kennedy, 1962db/CUPE-3338