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skylarstuff · ‎07-02-2016

Canada Post extremely disappointed with CUPW’s response to its offers

Dear Canada Post customer,

I am writing to update you on our negotiations and advise you that there can be no legal work disruption before the expiry of a 72-hour notice, and one has yet to be filed.

On Saturday, June 25, 2016, we tabled offers in our separate negotiations with the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW-Urban and CUPW-RSMC), which represent our delivery agents and plant employees. Our offers were designed to help bring a quick resolution to the negotiations and end the uncertainty that is negatively impacting our customers and our employees. Our offers included modest and manageable wage increases for all employees and no changes to the pension for all employees in the plan.

As you can read in our public statement, we are extremely disappointed with the response from CUPW. Late Friday evening, CUPW tabled offers that would add at least $1 billion in new costs over the term of a new collective agreement while rejecting the Corporation’s approach to address the long-term issues with the employee pension plan.

Rather than saddle customers with more than $1 billion in new costs, Canada Post continues to remain at the table to negotiate an agreement that is reasonable and affordable. In the event of a full disruption, Canada Post will not operate, deliver or accept new items. We will keep you updated on our progress.

Thank you for your business and your continued patience.

Sincerely,

Serge Pitre
Vice-president, Sales
Canada Post Corporation

fort2b · ‎07-08-2016

@skylarstuff wrote:
Sisters and Brothers: we’re here to win, not gamble away our rights

Thursday July 7 2016
2015-2019/137
We often say “solidarity” to each other. But now comes the real test of solidarity for our union. Do we practice what we preach or is “solidarity” just a catchphrase? Do we still believe that an injury to one is an injury to all? The solidarity that we share between us is the only way we will survive this. If we show each other our solidarity, not only will we survive, we will win.
We must stay firm and united against the boss’s efforts to divide us. When your co-workers are hurt, you help them. When a group of our members are getting a raw deal, we fight for them. That is what we’ve always done. We fought for cleaners, coders and part-timers. We fought for equality and human rights, and we should always be proud of that. When postal workers fought for paid maternity leave in 1981, some called us fools. I doubt they’d say that now.
Management well knows that if they can divide us and break CUPW solidarity, they can crush our union. That’s why we’re being pressured to fight .......

Canada Post is addicted to government intervention and refuses to negotiate fairly with us. If Canada Post can count on a government to step in and bail it out every time, either with back‑to‑work legislation or arbitration, what is going to make Canada Post negotiate with us next time around?
Saying we’ll stake everything on an arbitrator’s decision is a gamble. There are far many outstanding issues to risk everything on a roll of the dice. They are too important to our members. It’s much better to keep the pressure on Canada Post to sit down and negotiate.
Sisters and Brothers, we can do this. Let’s not falter at this crucial time.

In Solidarity,
Mike Palecek
National President

This tells me their must be a lot of decent within the Union. Perhaps many members want to accept binding arb and are not happy with Palecek's stance. Seems like he's trying to rally the troops to me.

If he feels his position is so right and true, then why not put the binding arbitration option to a vote? I'm sure CP would be willing to extend the deadline a bit longer to give the Union time to organize a vote on such an important issue.

It's easy for him to laud his principles when in the event of a lockout his gigantic paycheques will keep coming in. The Union members will get $200 a week until it runs out. Palecek makes that in an hour and will continue to do so through a lockout..

skylarstuff · ‎07-08-2016

Postal workers call for one-month cooling-off period, “intensive negotiations”

Friday July 8 2016

For Immediate Release

OTTAWA – Postal workers are proposing a 30-day cooling off period to Canada Post management to address concerns about “uncertainty” in the mail system and give negotiations a chance to succeed.

“Our members, their families and all Canadians do not deserve to have this threat of a lockout ‘looming’ over our heads from a profitable public service. Postal workers want to work and people need to know that it’s safe to use the mail system,” said Mike Palecek, national president of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers.

The union says it is prepared to engage in “intensive negotiations” with Canada Post during the cooling-off period, which would include an extension of the terms and conditions of 50,000 workers’ current contracts. As a sign of good faith, it has offered to drop an unfair labour practices complaint filed against Canada Post if management agrees to the union’s proposal.

Canada Post is demanding concessions from the postal workers and has budged very little over the past months, filing for conciliation very early on in the process and issuing a lockout notice just one week after making its first offer.

“Instead of negotiating with us fairly, this profitable crown corporation has been busy scaring businesses and the public off with threats of labour strife,” said Palecek. “They need to give that a rest and get back to the table with us.”

The union is trying to stave off the demands for cuts, which include less secure pensions for new hires, and is also trying to get Canada Post to reinvent itself by expanding and innovating services as well as addressing wage inequities between rural and urban mail carriers.

sylviebee · ‎07-08-2016

For as long as I can recall letter carriers have been striking or threatening to strike. It's an ongoing dispute over one thing or another, but I recall that this pension issue played a big role in the previous strike.

In spite of that I form pleasant relationships with my letter carriers and we get to know each other via friendly chats at my door, but every time their contract is up for renegotiation things get tense.

There are so many areas where money could be spent to improve services and IMO bolstering the pension plan of some future employee isn't at the top of that lengthy list.

Once again, it's clear that they just don't care about my welfare at all. We're the ones who pay when the carriers' demands are met.

Even though they want to elevate and recast the dispute into something infused with higher principles such as fairness, solidarity, equality, human rights etc. (give me a break), I'll never see it that way.

It's just not possible to feel kindly towards someone who is once again threatening to shut your business down if they don't get what they want.

It's personal and clear that they care more about some nonexistent future employee than they care about me.

cumos55 · ‎07-08-2016

The best we can do is wait and see.....

30 more days of indecision after months of nothing will not work.

fort2b · ‎07-08-2016

Interesting proposal from CUPW. I wonder if CP will accept it. CUPW made a similar request just a couple of weeks ago which CP turned down flat and shortly after that made their 'Final Offer'.

However, CP's position seems to have softened a bit since then, so they are probably getting some heat from behind the scenes (Government). Not sure what a 30 day period will accomplish, with both sides so far apart.

The CUPW release says in it:

"Canada Post is demanding concessions from the postal workers and has budged very little over the past months"

Which is an interesting thing to say considering CUPW has not budged at all over the past few months. Their demands are identical to what they were. CP has given small concessions and is also willing to go to binding arbitration, which I found to be a major concession on their part and a major victory for CUPW. But Palecek doesn't see it that way. Maybe he just doesn't want to relinquish the spotlight. Binding arbitration will be a long, tedious process and not much fun for him. He will fade from the podium and perhaps he doesn't want to relinquish that for the hard tedious work of binding arbitration.

To me this is another sign of cracks forming in the Union. The rah rah solidarity speech yesterday and now the cooling off period proposal today. He's feeling heat from somewhere....

Whatever the case, this better be resolved and done long before the Christmas season.

sylviebee · ‎07-08-2016

One of the sticking points behind the PO strike threat is that women and rural workers (who happen to be mainly women) get paid less.

The PO is trying to recast to this issue into one involving higher principles in an attempt to gain public sympathy.

Here is the reality.

A female friend of mine was recently hired to deliver mail in a rural area.

She had been working for the PO but had been laid off when they ended the program she had been working on.

She was unemployed for some time and unable to get another job with wages even close to what the P.O. had been paying her.

When the job for rural delivery came up she jumped on it.

She has many physical issues and is very unfit. She would be unable to do the job in an urban area. When I lived in a rural area I also noticed that they tend to hire older retired workers for that job.

My friend is able to do the job she was hired for because it allows her to drive from mail box to mail box.

Clearly, she delivers much less mail than an urban workers do, and clearly her job is not demanding and can be done my anyone who can read a GPS.

Now she's jumped right on board vocalizing about the unfairness of women/rural workers getting paid less than urban workers. That didn't take long.

Go figure.

fort2b · ‎07-08-2016

@sylviebee wrote:
One of the sticking points behind the PO strike threat is that women and rural workers (who happen to be mainly women) get paid less.

That's not quite correct. There is no issue with women being paid less than men at Canada Post. Male and female rural workers make the same and male and female urban workers make the same. However, as you pointed out, rural workers make less than urban workers, because it's a different, less demanding job.

It just so happens, that a high percentage of rural workers are women, which CUPW has latched onto in a weak attempt to make this a gender equality issue, which it's not since male rural workers are paid the same as the females.

ypdc_dennis · ‎07-08-2016

@fort2b wrote:

... Not sure what a 30 day period will accomplish, with both sides so far apart. ...

To me this is another sign of cracks forming in the Union. The rah rah solidarity speech yesterday and now the cooling off period proposal today. He's feeling heat from somewhere....

No cracks, or at least no more than usual.

A cooling off period means union members will continue to be paid as usual. As versus Canada Post cutting back on hours and benefits on Monday.

Benefit: to the union leadership, as working members would have their wallets spared, and so be far less annoyed with them.

Can't see what Canada Post would get out of 30 days.

sylviebee · ‎07-08-2016

@fort2b wrote:
@sylviebee wrote:
One of the sticking points behind the PO strike threat is that women and rural workers (who happen to be mainly women) get paid less.

That's not quite correct. There is no issue with women being paid less than men at Canada Post. Male and female rural workers make the same and male and female urban workers make the same. However, as you pointed out, rural workers make less than urban workers, because it's a different, less demanding job.

It just so happens, that a high percentage of rural workers are women, which CUPW has latched onto in a weak attempt to make this a gender equality issue, which it's not since male rural workers are paid the same as the females.

Actually, that's exactly what i posted above but in different words. Thank you for adding to my post

dutchman48 · ‎07-08-2016

Please CP, tell the union a flat no, lock them out. It is the only way this will get resolved. There have been enough stalls and games.

The longer this drags on, the longer the uncertainty remains and the only ones who pay are the public who support CP and the Union workers.

This is getting to the point that I wish the government would get a lwas passed to make all negotiating with CP and the union subject to binding arbitration, no more strike games or lockouts.

Otherwise, it will be the same mess every time.

dutchman48 · ‎07-08-2016

Palecek is making himself look like an absolute idiot spewing this garbage. He needs to be removed from office now.

momcqueen · ‎07-08-2016

This suggested 30-day cool-off period is an empty gesture, made so that the Union can say they also presented an alternative to the lockout. The Union needed to say something after rejecting the federal government offer of binding arbitration. No one bought their strike-for-women excuse, and the battle cry speech was eloquent but you cannot feed your kids on righteousness.

Obviously, another 30 days of impasse will gain nothing. To suggest it is just another jab.

fort2b · ‎07-08-2016

@ypdc_dennis wrote:
@fort2b wrote:
... Not sure what a 30 day period will accomplish, with both sides so far apart. ...
To me this is another sign of cracks forming in the Union. The rah rah solidarity speech yesterday and now the cooling off period proposal today. He's feeling heat from somewhere....

No cracks, or at least no more than usual.

A cooling off period means union members will continue to be paid as usual. As versus Canada Post cutting back on hours and benefits on Monday.

Benefit: to the union leadership, as working members would have their wallets spared, and so be far less annoyed with them.

Can't see what Canada Post would get out of 30 days.

"Benefit: to the union leadership, as working members would have their wallets spared, and so be far less annoyed with them."

That's actually why I said it might be a sign of cracks forming in the Union. Requesting the cooling off period could well be a sign of decent in the Union;; of the workers being unhappy with how the Union bosses are handling things.

fort2b · ‎07-08-2016

Well, from our perspectives as Ebay sellers who rely on Canada Post, our best chance of a quick resolution to this is if it comes from within the Union. ie a large number of workers want this to go to binding arbitration and what Palecek to accept it. There are some signs of decent in the Union.....the rah rah dissertations published by CUPW yesterday trying to rally and unite the workers, the proposal of a cooling off period just before a potential lockout, my own conversations with a handful of postal employees....it does point to dissatisfaction within the Union.

Unless that is true, I don't see a quick end to this. If it comes to a lockout it could drag on for months. The Liberals are still saying they will not interfere....I guess they are content to let thousands of Canadian businesses lose hundreds of millions of dollars and many go bust. Strange point of view: all concerned about the rights of some while ignoring the needs of many others.

fort2b · ‎07-08-2016

I just saw a headline:

Canada Post proposes 30 negotiation extension, then arbitration.

Will CUPW go for it? At least CP is being flexible.......a heck of a lot more flexible than CUPW.

skylarstuff · ‎07-08-2016

OTTAWA, July 8, 2016 /CNW/ - Canada Post has informed the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) that what our employees and our customers need is long-term certainty in the postal system. Therefore, we are fully prepared to negotiate intensively for the next 30 days under an extended "cooling off period" to reach negotiated settlements. However, if the parties are unable to successfully conclude negotiations within that period, both parties must agree to binding arbitration.

Canada Post and the union have been in discussions since late 2015, with 60 days of conciliation and almost 30 more days with federal mediators, yet the parties remain far apart on key issues. The impasse has caused tremendous uncertainty, which is having a major impact on the business, our customers and our employees.

Our employees are coming to work to find the amount of mail and parcels they process and deliver has dropped significantly. Parcel volumes from our major e-commerce customers have declined by more than 80 per cent. Yesterday alone, the amount of mail deposited across our network was down more than 80 per cent compared with the same day last year.

A short-term extension, as proposed by the union, with the continued threat of a work disruption will not reverse this severe decline. What Canada Post has put forward is a reasonable approach that will end the uncertainty immediately and allow for meaningful discussions at the bargaining tables.

The Corporation is committed to reaching settlements that are affordable and reasonable.

rose-dee · ‎07-08-2016

@fort2b wrote:

The CUPW release says in it: "Canada Post is demanding concessions from the postal workers and has budged very little over the past months"

Which is an interesting thing to say considering CUPW has not budged at all over the past few months. Their demands are identical to what they were. CP has given small concessions and is also willing to go to binding arbitration, which I found to be a major concession on their part and a major victory for CUPW. But Palecek doesn't see it that way.

CUPW may have dug in their heels over the past months, but I wouldn't characterize CP's acceptance of binding arbitration as a major concession on their part. I see it as cynical calculation, holding the public at ransom while they manipulate the situation.

While it's certainly clear that both parties have shown intransigence (as they always do), we should remember if we're inclined to vilify the Union that it was Canada Post who put the postal system in limbo by the threat of a lockout, not the Union. CP then quickly agreed to binding arbitration, counting on the Union to cave in under the heat of public pressure and agree to arbitration just as quickly.

CP may have played its only ace and lost. If they now lock out the workers, they'll have to take off their white hats.

I want to say a word about unions, too. They may seem utterly anachronistic in today's employment world. Yet many of the expectations of the current employer/employee relationship wouldn't exist had it not been for unions. And if corporations had had their way for the last 100 years, our sons and daughters would still be working in Victorian conditions at starvation wages.

Corporations who deal with unions invariably want to chip away at those benefits and rights that took unions decades to achieve for the average worker. Even though it hurts many of us (and believe me, I'm running a business that I depend on, and this dispute hurts), the concept of union representation and maintaining worker status quo is a much larger issue.

I never had the protection of a union in my working life, but I nonetheless recognized that many of the realities of the workplace that I benefited from (such as an 8-hour day, the concept of overtime, paid vacation, maternity leave, and on and on) were mostly first fought for by the unions and as a result ultimately enshrined in legislation.

There is another factor that I've mentioned before, and that is this: if you have a well-trained, stable, professional, "career" workforce, you have a better service corporation. If you have retirees who are able to live decently on their pensions you have healthier elderly people and more prosperous communities.

It's no coincidence that CP likes the idea of binding arbitration. They know concessions on the part of the Union will be a necessary part of the process, and that inevitably some of those concessions will be retrograde and significant.

So I'm arguing that unions still have validity, and deserve public support, even if we users are suffering for it for a period of time. Palecek's rather silly bluster notwithstanding, unions often do -- and should -- stand for more than any one particular dispute or any one generation of workers.

Personally, I'd rather the federal government throw some of my tax money at Canada Post Corporation to ensure its employees are reasonably well looked after than to let the postal service sink into the kind of dysfunction and mayhem that begins when those who know and care about their jobs are replaced by part-time, poorly paid, marginally trained, revolving door workforce who have no stake in their jobs.

skylarstuff · ‎07-08-2016

OTTAWA, July 8, 2016 /CNW/ -

Canada Post has informed the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) that what our employees and our customers need is long-term certainty in the postal system. Therefore, we are fully prepared to negotiate intensively for the next 30 days under an extended "cooling off period" to reach negotiated settlements. However, if the parties are unable to successfully conclude negotiations within that period, both parties must agree to binding arbitration.

Canada Post and the union have been in discussions since late 2015, with 60 days of conciliation and almost 30 more days with federal mediators, yet the parties remain far apart on key issues. The impasse has caused tremendous uncertainty, which is having a major impact on the business, our customers and our employees.

Our employees are coming to work to find the amount of mail and parcels they process and deliver has dropped significantly. Parcel volumes from our major e-commerce customers have declined by more than 80 per cent. Yesterday alone, the amount of mail deposited across our network was down more than 80 per cent compared with the same day last year.

A short-term extension, as proposed by the union, with the continued threat of a work disruption will not reverse this severe decline. What Canada Post has put forward is a reasonable approach that will end the uncertainty immediately and allow for meaningful discussions at the bargaining tables.

The Corporation is committed to reaching settlements that are affordable and reasonable.

skylarstuff · ‎07-08-2016

OTTAWA, July 8, 2016 /CNW/ - Canada Post has informed the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) that what our employees and our customers need is long-term certainty in the postal system. Therefore, we are fully prepared to negotiate intensively for the next 30 days under an extended "cooling off period" to reach negotiated settlements. However, if the parties are unable to successfully conclude negotiations within that period, both parties must agree to binding arbitration.

Canada Post and the union have been in discussions since late 2015, with 60 days of conciliation and almost 30 more days with federal mediators, yet the parties remain far apart on key issues. The impasse has caused tremendous uncertainty, which is having a major impact on the business, our customers and our employees.

Our employees are coming to work to find the amount of mail and parcels they process and deliver has dropped significantly. Parcel volumes from our major e-commerce customers have declined by more than 80 per cent. Yesterday alone, the amount of mail deposited across our network was down more than 80 per cent compared with the same day last year.

A short-term extension, as proposed by the union, with the continued threat of a work disruption will not reverse this severe decline. What Canada Post has put forward is a reasonable approach that will end the uncertainty immediately and allow for meaningful discussions at the bargaining tables.

The Corporation is committed to reaching settlements that are affordable and reasonable.

rose-dee · ‎07-08-2016

Thanks very much for posting this 'skylar' and keeping us up to date.

I had to laugh on reading this: "A short-term extension, as proposed by the union, with the continued threat of a work disruption will not reverse this severe decline."

Ahem, Mr. Chopra, reality check: the only threat of a work disruption so far has come from the Corporation, and it's that threat which has resulted in the decline of volume. The inference in this statement is that the Union is somehow to blame for both.

Just more disingenuous and cynical manipulation of public opinion. No wonder they can't negotiate in good faith.