Canada Post Strike Update August

[skylarstuff]

Update August 2, 4:14 pm

Dear Canada Post customer,

While we continue to talk, progress remains slow; but our resolve to reach tentative agreements without a work disruption has remained.

The postal system is open for business while negotiations continue. Mail and parcels are being processed and delivered across the country as normal.

Information related to negotiations can also be found at canadapost.ca/update, where you can sign up for email updates. We will continue to keep you updated on a regular basis as we have throughout this process.

Sincerely,

Serge Pitre
Vice-president, Sales
Canada Post Corporation

[rose-dee]

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@musicyouneed wrote:

This is the info from 2011.  It stated that CP locked out is employees after 12 days of rotating strike. 

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Thanks for posting that!  So interesting to have a window back into the previous dispute, I'd forgotten most of the details.  

BTW, what Union did you belong to?  No need to say if you'd rather not.  Those so-called "pay hikes" you quoted earlier looked very familiar from my husband's last few years of work (especially the two "0's").  LOL. 

You must be on the West Coast if you're still posting at this hour.  I'm in Atlantic Time, but on insomniac time at the moment. 

[musicyouneed]

Hi Rose-dee, PSAC was the union.  I worked for Service Canada. 

[pjcdn2005]

In 2011 the rotating strikes meant that postal workers in a specific city would not work that day or days.  Unless I'm reading it wrong, it looks like everyone will be working this time but they will limit the number of hours that they are working.

[cumos55]

Mail continues to move during the rotating strikes.. This allows the last parcels mailed to move through the system to their destinations, whether within Canada or to outside of Canada.

I watched this happen with the last strike.

The one thing they worried with the last strike was if the back to work legislation would pass before the end of June...... The MP's  had already made plans to go on vacation.....  There was no disruption of plans...

The filibuster lasted for quite a while... but then they must have realized that enough was enough.....

As I was reading the history of the last strike...  it was my view  that the wage increases were reduced to adjust for income lost during the strike.

[cumos55]

In 2016  it is work to rule....  Do the basics... no overtime

and if management gets mad...verbally frustrated/abusive.....  let the union know...

I suspect this means that mail moves to a point....  and then the workers leave...  with the job incomplete....

Fortunately we are still not significantly into the pre-Christmas rush.  However,  one should expect that any significant delay in the ending of the strike  will magnify the volume of pre-Christmas  mail

and... If we add onto what is to be expected in 2016 compared to 2015.....  the postal system will be full to the brim  and more

[lukey9]

How much notice does CP have to give if they decide to lock out the workers. I would like to see it get over now instead of dragging on for ever especially  with the Christmas mailing season coming up which I think what the Union is stalling for. It is starting to look like MIckey Mouse on both sides 

[cumos55]

An article in the Winnipeg Free Press this morning, August 27, 2016 is an interesting read.

The title is .....Labour Minister mails in a mediator.

Also  with this title is the statement.....  Post office reinforces stance with grim earnings report.

Link to 

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/canada/labour-minister-appoints-mediator-as-canada-post-warns-of-hu...

They talk about.....

(1) CPC Profit - minimal

(2) Pension solvency deficit  --- This is the reality of the current Defined Benefit Pension Plan

My view......If solvency becomes insolvency, then CPC Is bankrupt..... Then there is no Canada Post... and no jobs....

 There is always the possibility that  the Defined Benefit Pension Plan can be modified

(3) Wage Parity Rural versus Urban  Postal Workers --- Pay equity should be addressed before the Federal Government and not as a part of a negotiation process.

(4) The Union has issued a strike notice... but not a full-blown walkout, just  a refusal to work overtime

(5) CPC has no intention to lockout its employees as of August 27.              My view... is that this could change over time.

My view .....The Labour Minister has introduced several new points to the negotiation process...  specifically with respect to the Pension, and the question of Pay Equity between Rural and Urban workers....

and if the Union is listening..... then what will happen

[dm5519]

Mail will continue in event of job action: Victoria CUPW local

Canada Post customers should continue to mail their packages and shop online despite a 72-hour strike notice by the Canadian Union of Postal Workers, said Janet Barney, president of CUPW Local 850 representing Victoria.

“It’s business as usual,” Barney said Friday. “There is no strike at this point. It’s just a strike action. There’s a big difference.”

Any job action will take the form of a rotating ban on overtime, one province and territory at a time. Barney explained it could mean postal workers in Ontario will have an overtime ban on Monday, then overtime will be banned on Tuesday in P.E.I. The rotating ban could take two weeks to go through every province and territory, she said.

During the job action, postal workers will work regular eight-hour shifts, but no more. Workers who are part-time can extend their hours up to eight hours a day, said Barney.

“We’re doing this to put a minimum impact on our customers. It’s putting pressure on the government and Canada Post.”

http://www.timescolonist.com/business/mail-will-continue-in-event-of-job-action-victoria-cupw-local-...

[pierrelebel]

"My view......If solvency becomes insolvency, then CPC Is bankrupt..... Then there is no Canada Post... and no jobs...."

Let us not get carried away here.

Like any company, Canada Post can have a deficit, it is not the end of the world.  They had annual deficit before.  They survived.

And yes the reality is that Canada Post is not really profitable and has not been for a long time because they are not correctly accounting for their "defined benefit" pension deficit. The federal government allowed them to do so.  A private company could not.

There is no easy answer to the pension plan problem.  I expect the union will eventually agree to a pension plan similar to the auto workers for new employees.  If not, arbitration will force it, on this contract or the next one.

This pension liability is one reason why it will be difficult (I am not saying impossible) to privatize Canada Post.  By Canadian legislation, whoever buys Canada Post would have to honour the pension liability.  It is huge.

[cumos55]

It would appear that the Labour Minister is forcing the Union to ...

Think about things with a new view... with the availability of new information

and Perhaps to make a major adjustment in their claim with CPC

[cumos55]

How big a deficit can a Corporation Carry..

From the article..

On December 31, 2015  the deficit was $6.1 billion

On July 1, 2016  the pension solvency deficit was estimate at $8.1 billion.... over 30 % higher

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The income on the amount in the pension fund is not enough to sustain the pension fund 

IF CPC does not become insolvent... then the pension fund will become insolvent..

The end result could be a major adjustment with respect to the pension amount each person gets....

What happens is very much dependent what CPC is allowed to do... or can do to relieve the insolvency of the pension fund...

[cumos55]

It took me a while to understand that the pension is managed separate from CPC.

CPC is economically self-sustainable.... 

while the Pension Fund is in trouble.... 

[skylarstuff]

Alert #5 Good News On Canada Post Finances!

Saturday August 27 2016

2015-2019/172

No 70

The Canada Post 2016 second Quarter Financial Report has been released and it contains lots of good news for postal workers and for the public. The Report reveals that even without a rate increase for letters, CPC has reported record revenues from operations. It also reported its best financial results since 2010. All indications are that 2016 will be a very profitable year, despite the efforts of management to instruct large volume mailers to avoid mailing in June 2016 in anticipation of a planned lock-out.

 

Best Ever Profits From Operations

CPC reported its highest profits from operations ever for the first six months of 2016!

  Great News on Revenues

CPC reported $3,185,000,000 revenues from operations during the first six months of 2016. This is the most revenue ever reported by CPC for the January-June period of any year!

 

Good News on Profits Before Tax

CPC reported $45 million profits before tax in the first six months of 2016. This represents the highest profits in the same period since 2010. Plus, this was achieved despite CPC instructing large volume mailers not to mail during June 2016.  

 

Parcel Volumes Skyrocket

The rate of parcel volume growth continued to increase in the first half of 2016. Parcel volumes in the first six months of 2016 increased 11.4% over the first six months of 2015. In 2015, parcel volumes increased 6.5% compared with the same period of 2014. The increase in revenue from parcels now exceeds the loss in revenue from reduced lettermail.

 

Pension Surplus Increases

The going concern surplus in the Canada Post Pension Plan increased from $1.2 billion to $1.6 billion, a 25% increase.

  Intensive Mediation Continues

The Negotiating Committee continues to work with Special Mediator William Kaplan and Guy Baron, head of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Services. The mediation process is very intense with the objective of reaching a negotiated settlement over the weekend.

Time to Settle! 

Sylvain Lapointe

Chief Negotiator, Urban Unit

George Floresco

Chief Negotiator, RSMC Unit

[cumos55]

In many ways the union appears impressed

But they are selective when dealing with the pension

The union reported a ........going concern surplus ....of $1.6 billion...

but ... chose to ignore a .....Pension Solvency deficit  ...of $8.1 billion.

The union  has to understand that the Pension is separate from CPC, and has nothing to do with CPC's self-sufficient situation.

The Pension is experiencing difficulty, something that all employees of CPC must understand.

------------------------------------------------------

The union is selective... and looking to justify its claims

Much of the pluses are due to CPC making major changes such as community mailboxes, and reducing door-to-door delivery of mail.

That new fleet of trucks helps to delivery mail to community mailboxes, and parcels to homes and postal outlets.

CPC has made major changes...  with those changes resulting in increased revenue... and more specifically an improved Bottom-line

[mcrlmn]

"The union reported a going concern surplus of $1.6 billion...
but ... chose to ignore a Pension Solvency deficit of $8.1 billion."

"The union is selective... and looking to justify its claims"

I was a union member for 43 1/2 years, and have heard all manner from both sides.
I don't suffer nonsense any better than being called stupid.

Perhaps they should put their sweaty little hands back in their pockets, clean up their own house, and start addressing job security.
I guarantee quite a few of these 'underpaid' postal workers will be unemployed in the next 5 years.
I appreciate the steep learning curve, and excessive physical demands of the job, but times are changing... the cost of doing business in this millennium.

[tellephoto]

Postal Worker Overtime Ban To Begin In Alberta And In The Northwest Territories

Sunday August 28 2016

For Immediate Release

OTTAWA - Job action in the form of a refusal of overtime will start in the province of Alberta and in the Northwest Territories on Monday morning if no settlement is reached, according to the Canadian Union of Postal Workers. However, the Union wants people to know they’ll still be getting their mail.

“Our action will cause little to no disruption for the public. We’ll still be delivering mail every day,” explained Mike Palecek, national president of the CUPW.

“We simply want to draw attention to our negotiation issues by asking our full-time members across the country to work only their scheduled hours. Part-time members can still extend to eight hours but will not accept overtime.”

Overtime has been a major issue for the Union, which has been demanding that Canada Post staff its workforce properly and build routes that match scheduled hours, instead of overburdening workers and making them stay on the job longer.  Postal workers can be forced back and severely disciplined for refusing overtime.

The Union says Canada Post should be creating more jobs instead of relying on so much overtime.

“Nobody should be forced to stay at work once they’ve done their hours. We all deserve to see our families and have lives outside our workplaces,” said Palecek.

The overtime ban will rotate from province to province, one day at a time.

“We hope our action will put some pressure on Canada Post to negotiate and to realize that pushing us around isn’t going to work,” said Palecek.

In response to the minimal rotating job action, Canada Post has said it will cut off maternity and adoption leave as well as insurance and other benefits, and cancel the workers’ vacations.

-30-

Media representatives who require more information, please contact:

(EN) Aalya Ahmad, CUPW Communications, aahmad@cupw-sttp.org or 613-327-1177

(FR) Maria-Hélèna Pacelli, mpacelli@cupw-sttp.org or 343-998-5131

[femmefan1946]

But they are selective when dealing with the pension

The union is selective and management is selective.

Any statistics should be greeted with a hearty 'Cui bono?"

There is a lot of ideology mixed into those press releases.

That $8 billion is not due tomorrow.

It will come due over the next twenty or thirty years as workers become pensioners and eventually die.

That $1.6 billion is already in the bank.

And if Canada Post does their job well, there will be more surpluses most years.

The last big deficit was in 2011-12 : after management locked out the workers for those 12 days.

How many years of profitability would it take to pay for the pensions?

Drawback-- the surpluses at this time are going into the government's general coffers.

[tobyshitzu]

Continuing as is they would NEVER make up the pension shortfall, even if every cent they ever make goes toward it.  Its getting worse far faster then the small profits they've managed.  If they didn't have a government granted exemption from making their required payments to it,they would have needed to pay $1,400,000,000 toward it this year, that they dont have.  The exemption they were given to get their finances in order ends after 2017.  The bulk of their staff is near retirement and going to be drawing down the pension fund

"

Drawback-- the surpluses at this time are going into the government's general coffers."

???  Nothing from canada post goes to the govenrment.  The dividend of part of their profit they use to send to the feds stopped years ago

[dutchman48]

I am going to make an assumption here.

CP has been trying to cut costs and one way is to reduce staff through attrition and less new hires.

By using community mail boxes, it should require less staff as well as less overtime and less physical work for the staff as they would be using CP trucks and not have to haul heavy mail bags around. Hence less risk of injury for staff especially in winter and less animals to deal with..

By Trudeau halting the community mail boxes, he has sort of made a mess of that whole plan.

If the community mailboxes were to continue, less staff would be required and less chance of injury to staff.

What are peoples opinions that Trudeau will remove his block and allow CP to continue with them as part of their cost reducing plans?

[tobyshitzu]

Yes that was the plan, communitiy mail boxes would save them over half a billion once fully rolled out.   No one was being laid off, so many are retiring they can downsize and still need new staff, which they want to hire for a little less.  Price increases were going to make up the rest, like the 6% on lettermail for this year that trudeau stopped with his review.  Regardless of what the Lib review says, they will have to go to community mail boxes eventually.   Though I would presume the comittee will cconclude CP is not sustainable as is, and that will give Trudeau and out to let the community mail boxes continue.   

If CP was a private compnay, the union would be facing accepting reality or company going out of business, all losing their jobs and never getting the pension amount they expected.  Its only becuase its public they see it was a bottlomless pit to leech from