LATEST NEWS ON THE POTENTIAL POSTAL STRIKE/LOCKOUT

[momcqueen]

Postal workers and management are making contingency plans to avoid trapping live animals en route in the event of a work stoppage come July.

From a farming publication, the Manitoba Cooperator which is a newspaper which I have many fond memories of reading with my grandparents, when I was growing up.

http://www.manitobacooperator.ca/daily/postal-workers-pledge-to-move-bees-chicks-if-striking

I'll get you started with an except. The point is that they are planning ahead as if a work stoppage in July is a foregone conclusion. 

Postal workers pledge to move bees, chicks if striking  

By Staff

Published: June 15, 2016 
Livestock

(Keith Weller photo courtesy ARS/USDA) 

Canada Post and its unionized staff have agreed to set up a system in which workers would volunteer to move live animals, such as day-old chicks or bees, during a strike or lockout.

The Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) said Tuesday it has a new agreement with the Crown corporation to move and deliver social assistance and pension cheques in case of a work stoppage.

Agreements have been reached between CUPW and Canada Post ahead of previous potential work stoppages, to deliver government payments to seniors and people with low incomes.

However, such an agreement that also includes commitments to “ensure that live animals are not trapped in the event of a strike or lockout” is new, the union said in a release.

“We don’t want the most vulnerable people in our society — pensioners and those living on low incomes — to suffer because postal workers might get locked out or forced out,” CUPW national president Mike Palecek said in the release.

“Nor do we want a repeat of what happened in 2011, when managers locked us out for two weeks, trapping animals such as bees and baby chicks in the system,” he said.

According to media reports during the 2011 lockout, postal staff were allowed into warehouses to track down such live cargo; a Canada Post spokesperson was quoted at the time as saying all such cargo, to the corporation’s knowledge, was found.

The new agreement, signed by representatives from the company and union and dated June 11, calls for Canada Post to “develop a mechanism for segregating or tracking live animals prior to a possible strike or lockout.”

[dutchman48]

So, if we disguise everything as chicks, it will all get delivered?

[momcqueen]

Live chicks. Send in the live chicks.

[momcqueen]

Or bees. Something buzzing in an ominous way is also certain to draw attention.

[recped]

The point is that they are planning ahead as if a work stoppage in July is a foregone conclusion.

Smart people plan ahead even if there is only a 1% chance of a disruption.

[momcqueen]

I suppose you're right in that.

[i.am.vivian]

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@mjwl2006 wrote:
Or bees. Something buzzing in an ominous way is also certain to draw attention.

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Or a ticking package.   🙂  

Its good that they are planning ahead enough to be able to help living things being transported and also society's disadvantaged like pensioners, whatever their reasons.

[msmaggie060]

So does that mean if you are a pensioner depending on your eBay income to feed you, the postal workers will deliver your eBay shipments?🤔😀

[reallynicestamps]

No.

But if you are still getting your OAP, CPP and GIS pension payments by mail, they will be delivered.

Federal disability payments would probably be counted in on that too. But don't count on municipal, provincial or private pension payments being delivered.

That being said, my pensions are no longer available by mail. They are all direct deposit and I was not allowed to get them any other way.

[pierrelebel]

"OAP, CPP and GIS pension payments by mail, they will be delivered."

Those cheques are generaly distributed on the 3rd business days before the end of the month.  In June it will be the 27th or 28th (the cheques are dated June 28th).  So an early July strike or lockout will have no effect.

One would expect whatever work stoppage would end well before the July cheques are scheduled for delivery on July 26th and 27th.  

[rose-dee]

Many people (like me) also buy live plants through the mails at this time of year.  Sad loss if you get caught with a bunch of dead rare plants that you've already paid for.  Although certainly nowhere near as sad as the thought of a box full of baby chicks perishing in the dark without water or food. 

[momcqueen]

And then there is this....

http://www.cbc.ca/beta/news/canada/manitoba/manitoba-government-prepares-for-canada-post-work-stoppa...

Manitoba prepares for potential Canada Post lockout

Canada Post union says lockout possible in early July

CBC News

June 16, 2016

The union representing Canada Post employees says they are expecting a lockout in early July. (Evan Goldenberg, Flickr ) 

In the event Canada Post employees strike or get locked out, the province says it will establish pickup locations to ensure Manitobans continue to get mail from the government.

• Canada Post workers press Liberals to restore home delivery, add postal banking

Canada Post began informing "high-volume senders" recently of a potential work stoppage in early July, said Glenn Bennett, Winnipeg local president of Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW).

Manitoba will have cheques and other important mail, like health cards, available for pickup as of Monday, June 20 from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday to Friday at various locations. 

Manitobans expecting mail can contact the applicable department to find out where to go. For a list, see below.

Bennett said people should expect a work stoppage at Canada Post.

"It's clear to me that the corporation doesn't want to negotiate a contract and that they'll be moving forth to a lockout at some point early in July," he said.

The last labour dispute at Canada Post was in 2011 when a rotating strike turned into a lockout. At the time, Winnipeg was the first city to strike because it was the first city to undergo Canada Post's modernization program. 

The 2011 labour disruption lasted nearly three weeks and ended when Conservatives passed back-to-work legislation. The Supreme Court of Ontario later found the legislation to be unjust, said Bennett.

[dutchman48]

Bennett needs to repost his stupid comment and say that neither side will negotiate, no just the corporation. It takes two to have a lockout or strike.

Absolutely ridiculous

[ypdc_dennis]

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@i.am.vivian wrote:

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@mjwl2006 wrote:
Or bees. Something buzzing in an ominous way is also certain to draw attention.

---

Or a ticking package.   🙂 

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Over on the A-forums (up river so to speak) one of the moderators is stepping down today. She was asked if she had any favorite forum threads: "Favorite thread by far was the one where a buyer thought an item* delivered was a bomb, so she called the bomb squad and they blew up her mailbox."

* - item was a 32ounce bottle of shampoo packaged by seller in a shoebox

-..-

[dutchman48]

Canada Post workers press Liberals to restore home delivery, add postal banking

Another ridiculous suggestion by the idiot union who knows 0 about banking

And yes, I have no respect for the CUPW at all.

[ypdc_dennis]

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@dutchman48 wrote:

Canada Post workers press Liberals to restore home delivery, add postal banking

Another ridiculous suggestion by the idiot union who knows 0 about banking

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The Canadian Post Office used to be one of Canada's largest banking organizations. But attempting to revive the bank arm almost 50 years later is sorta lame. The world of banking has changed too much to be starting over.

It's not that it can't be done, but you really had to stay in the game to be a successful player. For example, one of the world's big banks is the Japan Post Bank.

-..-

[ricarmic]

The part that I find humorous is that if they did begin banking - when they go on strike again, how does the customer do banking/get money then??

I think somehow they don't make the connection that when they're striking/locked out, it is the consumer that burns, and asking the consumer to now trust them with the consumer's money seems a bit of a reach to me....

[dutchman48]

The postal unions, and there are 2, need to get out of fantasy land and move to reality, but then they could not come up with all their ridiculous ideas and demands.

Eventual, they will become one of the most hated unions around if they keep up with these fiascos.

[femmefan1946]

Fiasco?

It was Canada Post that closed down the service in 2011 with a three week lockout.

The mail was moving (erratically) before that while the union had revolving strikes. A few days (or shifts) here a few there.

Dennis-- I could see a Canada Post Bank that ran online like the PC online bank or the Dutch-based Orange bank. I used to bank with the Province of Ontario Savings Office later sold to Caisse Populaire Desjardins. Not sure which government sold it.

How do you tell is someone is paid too much? He earns more than you.

[momcqueen]

Management detests revolving or wildcat strikes because they have less control over that kind of job action than an actual strike wherein workers can be ordered back to work by a high power. This I learned when doing my part as a manager as one union in my workplace planned to take job action. We were given emergency training on how to perform tasks well outside our level of skills. It was frightening to me.

Maybe CPC should consider handing the mailbags to the executive suits and telling them to go to town with it. Snicker.