CUPW obtains Cease and Desist Order!

On December 4, 2008, Canada Post picked up where it left off in October by threatening button-wearing employees with suspensions.

Weeks earlier, CUPW members were encouraged to participate in a nationwide Union campaign by wearing buttons or affixing stickers carrying the message, Peace, joy and universal public postal service. CUPW members were encouraged to wear the buttons and stickers on December 4, 2008. The message articulated on those buttons and stickers is clearly positive and advocates for a public postal service. By most standards, the message conveyed by those buttons and stickers would not be considered derogatory or defamatory. After all, peace and joy are words that appear on most Christmas cards. Further, a recent Ipsos-Reid poll indicated that most Canadians are in favour of a universal postal service. Indeed, as a crown corporation that provides a universal public postal service, it is difficult to understand how Canada Post’s reputation could be damaged by advocating for its continued existence. Nonetheless, on December 4, 2008, Canada Post supervisors were instructed to threaten employees with discipline.

December 4, 2008
Back to the table!

Thanks to your work on the picket lines we are going back to the bargaining table.
The mediator has called both Canada Post and your bargaining team back to negotiate. Bargaining will resume by the weekend.
Support your team at the table by maintaining your picket lines.

• Keep doing what you are doing
• Be visible
• Keep Canada Post guessing
• Keep picketing

Keep calling and writing letters to your MPs
Stay in touch with your picket captain. You will receive updates as soon as they are available.
Together we will win a fair collective agreement.

UPCE/PSAC and Canada Post: David and Goliath?

From the start, the labour dispute between Canada Post and its smallest bargaining unit, the Union of Postal Communications Employees (UPCE), has taken on the proportions of the biblical tale of David and Goliath. A component of the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC), the UPCE is a predominantly female workforce consisting of approximately 2,400 members. Despite being Canada Post’s smallest bargaining unit, the UPCE stood its ground after Canada Post attempted to impose a package of contract demands that would strip the current paid family leave entitlement from five (5) days to two (2) days per year and reduce the current sick leave entitlement from fifteen (15) to five (5) days per year. Canada Post also demanded that the UPCE accept a Short Term Disability (STD) plan that would eliminate current sick leave language, subject the administration and approval of sick leave benefits to Manulife Financial (without the right to grieve) and ultimately have the effect of transferring sick leave costs to an already overburdened EI system. Canada Post has referred to its STD proposal as a best practice.

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CUPW Postal Workers Support UPCE

For two days running, more than 300 letter carriers took their coffee at 8 a.m. outside the VMPP in a show of support for the striking UPCE workers. Some of the picketers were overwhelmed with emotion from this act of solidarity. The UPCE workers applauded in appreciation, as the posties walked around the building before heading back to work at Depot 74, Station K, and Mountainview DC. The UPCE expressed their surprise and pleasure at this huge show of support.

The Mail Service Couriers who have been queuing in long lines to get out of or back into the VMPP have been very patient and supportive of the striking workers.

The UPCE pickets were up at VPDC Wednesday night, preventing trucks from entering or exiting the grounds. The shift Manager appeared first, followed sometime later by the plant Director and S & I. The RCMP were called in, with three cruisers showing up. The police determined that the picketers were not blocking traffic, and were in fact conducting a legal strike outside their place of work. In this picket, as with the VMPP picket lines, the strikers were joined with support from CUPW.

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