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]

Not sure of the last question as no mention of being paid too much at all.

The union did the rotating strikes and slow downs so you could never figure out what mail was moving and what was not.

CPC just got fed up and said no more games and locked them out. You don't bargain with rotating strikes. It is just a way to get your paycheck and still disrupt the whole system.

The union does not want a total strike as then their members only get strike pay.

This whole thing with CP is a total pain. It is severely hurting small business with the constant rate hikes and the union could care less about any one but themselves. CPC is no better..

If it was run as a corporation with employees that are not union, it would be totally different for both sides.

The days of unions being needed are long gone and they are doing nothing but trying to ruin a business instead of working for that business.

Everyone would like to have a guaranteed job after 5 years employment, but that is not the real work either except for postal workers.

I am not anti union as at one time I was president of a union and I can tell you it was not run the same way as the postal union. There was give and take on both sides which seems to be drastically lacking with the CUPW executive staff.

To be absurd, if they need a chair to sit in, buy your own. and in all honesty if you have to sit down on the job, maybe you should find a different job where you can sit all day. Employees know what they are getting into when they take a job so don't cry afterwards and still expect to railroad companies into giving more for doing no more.

And I am sorry, there is no way I would deal with the CPC bank as then postal workers would not be able to deliver mail. Oh, and do they want it unionized as well and who will actually run it, Bennett or the CPC.

Way too many headaches when they get into what they know nothing about, too many security risks and if it is only on line who will it help and it is not needed other than they can say we need more staff.

[ypdc_dennis]

---

@femmefan1946 wrote:

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.

---

Perhaps. But...

PC Financial is managed/run by CIBC for Loblaws.

ING Direct got sold and renamed to Tangerine. And now runs as a separate arm of Scotiabank.

Vaguely aware of the Province of Ontario Savings Office and according to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Province_of_Ontario_Savings_Office it was sold off by the Conservatives in 2003. And after more swapping around any remaining vestige is now part of the Meridian Credit Union network.

-..-

Disclaimer: as of last week, I now bank with all of these (Merdian set up a branch next to my favourite postal outlet this year, so I now have a "bank" I can walk to when my internet is down).

-..-

[Anonymous]

Ha as if they would do that.  So how would they knew which parcels/packages?  Eh!

[Anonymous]

Why don't you have them direct deposit which is the best way to get funds in a timely manner and what more if you are travelling,  you will still get $$ at any bank anywhere.  Honestly I am still shock that there are still some people that get them in the mail??!!!  Get on the problem and have them direct deposit.  There is no bank charges for those.

[Anonymous]

Does employees of Canada Post really want to go on strike?  If it is me working at Canada Post, I would refuse and would ask everyone not to accept it.

Unless they don't mind losing salary for 3-4 weeks?  It is very expensive if they have mortgage, payments for cars, etc, etc. and hard to catch up when they get back to work.  It is insane for them to do that.

I would fire the union boss, period!

[dutchman48]

That's why they do rotating strikes, walk outs, slow downs. They know they will get locked out and hence do not lose their pay cheque.

Then the corporation is the bad guy as the union did not strike.

That is a joke. Lock them out forever and replace all of them with non union. Rolling wallouts and strikes do nothing to help any one, or the bargaining process.

The union bargains with this is what the exec's want and if we don't get it, we will make life miserable for you and the public. You can lock us out, not we will go on strike

This whole union issue is becoming a joke. What ever happened to bargaining.

Maybe all unions and companies that employ them should become subject to binding arbitration if they can't reach an agreement within 60 days of negotiations starting.

[momcqueen]

In the first media coverage I read, the union side was quoted as being angry they had been forced into conciliation. http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canada-post-warns-key-customers-of-looming-contract-dispute-1.360190...

CUPW has accused management of trying to provoke a labour disruption. Canada Post asked the federal government to send in third-party conciliators to help with the negotiation process. The union says asking Ottawa for help puts a timeline on talks, leading to the deadline in July.

"We are expecting Canada Post to lock us out," Palecek says.

"Management will have the ability to unilaterally change working conditions when conciliation is finished," Palecek adds. "We will be conducting strike votes in June in order to protect our members. If management moves in that direction, we need to have a strike vote in place so we can legally respond to their actions."

I am somewhat unclear as to how asking a neutral third-party to step in to help becomes 'provoking a labour disruption'. Isn't  it more akin to take the marriage to a relationship councillor? You'd think it would be a good thing. Or perhaps I simply do not understand the rigid rules of the process that is followed. 

[pierrelebel]

It is all PR on both sides.  The union wants management at CP to look bad and vice versa.

It has been that way with postal workers and CP management forever.

[maggiebvintage2010]

The problem of bank and credit union closures is a big problem in rural and small town Canada.  There have been efforts by several groups, including the Eastern Ontario Warden's Caucus, Hastings County Warden, and many others to have the federal government reinstate postal banking in Canada.  This idea did not originate with the postal union.  It comes from the frustration and inconvenience that many rural and small town Canadians experience when there is no longer a single banking option available for many kilometers.

https://hastingscounty.civicweb.net/document/109915/i.c.Letter%20to%20prime%20minister%20re%20postal...

[pierrelebel]

",,, many rural and small town Canadians experience when there is no longer a single banking option available for many kilometers."

That is correct.  Why?  because banks and credit union could not cover their operating costs.

Using the postal system would simply increase losses by Canada Post.

Let's face it, if banks cannot make money paying their non unionized employees (bank tellers) near minimum wages, how can Canada Post make money paying so much more with substantial benefits to their postal workers.  The concept is a non starter.

[momcqueen]

Wouldn't it be more a matter of adding value to the service already provided? 

I know little to nothing of the issue, I'm asking out of curiosity.

[recped]

---

@pierrelebel wrote:

",,, many rural and small town Canadians experience when there is no longer a single banking option available for many kilometers."

That is correct.  Why?  because banks and credit union could not cover their operating costs.

Using the postal system would simply increase losses by Canada Post.

Let's face it, if banks cannot make money paying their non unionized employees (bank tellers) near minimum wages, how can Canada Post make money paying so much more with substantial benefits to their postal workers.  The concept is a non starter.

---

Which Canadian banks are not making money???????

Postal services offering basic banking services are very successful in the dozens of countries where it is offered.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postal_savings_system

[momcqueen]

It would be the individual branches that were closed that were not making money. 

[recped]

---

@mjwl2006 wrote:

It would be the individual branches that were closed that were not making money. 

---

That's why Post Offices offering banking as a secondary service would work, the post offices/outlets are already there and in many cases (franchise outlets) the postal services are already secondary to the main business conducted at the location.

Canada Post via PO's and Franchises have the largest network of service locations of any company in Canada, even more than Tim Horton, more than Subway, more than McDonald's, maybe even as many as all three of those combined and almost as many as all the Canadian chartered banks combined.

They need to leverage that network especially in less urban areas where they dominate. Even here in the "centre of the universe" I have to pass two postal outlets before I will get to even one bank branch.

[dutchman48]

What makes you think that franchise outlets that are non union would want to get into banking.

Canada Post and the union, and mostly the union, need to smarten up and run the postal service.

Not figure out more ways they can shaft the public. If they want to work for a bank, let them quit the postal service and work for a bank.

Maybe they should get into the liquor business, or medicine, or anything else they know nothing about to try to justify their demands.

Why should they be guaranteed a job if their is no work for them. Don't replace the retiring workers with more workers that want a guaranteed job. As workers retire, steam line the job. If the dolts still want door to door mail to keep their jobs, cut it back to 3 or even 2 days a week. Residences do not need mail delivery every day and it is time the union figured that out and deal with it as intelligent human beings instead of with the no way, I am entitled as I belong to CUPW.

What works in other countries will not necessarily work here and I would not want to be aparty to playing around with banking to see if it works.

Banking today is a very complicated business and peoples' money is not something to play around with.

[purpleziggy434]

Hello All

So I have a few questions regarding the CP slowdown

When are you planning to put your store on vacation and for how long ?

If you put your store on vacation hold does it cover .ca and.com ?

If you place it on hold for a specified date can you open sooner ?

Thanks a bunch

[mr.elmwood]

---

@purpleziggy434 wrote:

Hello All

So I have a few questions regarding the CP slowdown

When are you planning to put your store on vacation and for how long ?

If you put your store on vacation hold does it cover .ca and.com ?

If you place it on hold for a specified date can you open sooner ?

Thanks a bunch

---

I would to be shut down a week before they go out, like, they are going to give me that date. I am aiming at June 30th.

Store on vacation is worldwide.

You can close and open willy-nilly, it is entirely up to you, dates me nothing.

[recped]

---

@dutchman48 wrote:

What makes you think that franchise outlets that are non union would want to get into banking.

Canada Post and the union, and mostly the union, need to smarten up and run the postal service.

Not figure out more ways they can shaft the public. If they want to work for a bank, let them quit the postal service and work for a bank.

Maybe they should get into the liquor business, or medicine, or anything else they know nothing about to try to justify their demands.

Why should they be guaranteed a job if their is no work for them. Don't replace the retiring workers with more workers that want a guaranteed job. As workers retire, steam line the job. If the dolts still want door to door mail to keep their jobs, cut it back to 3 or even 2 days a week. Residences do not need mail delivery every day and it is time the union figured that out and deal with it as intelligent human beings instead of with the no way, I am entitled as I belong to CUPW.

What works in other countries will not necessarily work here and I would not want to be aparty to playing around with banking to see if it works.

Banking today is a very complicated business and peoples' money is not something to play around with.

---

Same reason they got into postal services....to make money! Either directly or indirectly via increased traffic.

The postal outlets around here mostly twiddle their thumbs for at least 75% of the day when there is no business to be done (thus the desire for stools!).

If basic banking services are so complicated why are there so many cheque cashing and payday loan places. It's certainly not because the people who work there are highly skilled.

But I guess you figure that postal services in England, France, Italy, Germany, Japan etc. etc. have got it all wrong in offering banking services.

Are you aware that Canada Post did offer basic banking services up until 1968. I'd bet pressure from the big 5 (big 6 at that time) are why that was done away with.

USPS would dearly love to get into these alternate services, unfortunately with Congress in the pockets of Wall Street they won't allow it to happen.

[momcqueen]

---

@purpleziggy434 wrote:

Hello All

So I have a few questions regarding the CP slowdown

When are you planning to put your store on vacation and for how long ?

If you put your store on vacation hold does it cover .ca and.com ?

If you place it on hold for a specified date can you open sooner ?

Thanks a bunch

---

Hello purpleziggy434. Welcome to the discussion.

I don't intend to close. Instead, once the direction of the July fallout becomes clear, I will increase my handling time to compensate for complications and switch to service by courier for domestic orders, opting instead to drive to the USA to post orders via USPS for international destinations. Furthermore, I will add the following to the bottom of each listing: 

Please note our temporary extended handling time and increased postage cost is due to the mail strike/lockout at Canada Post Corparation. McQueen and Mo Mater will endeavor to continue delivering your orders with all due haste using alternative methods. We appreciate your patience, and value your business. Thank you for choosing McQueen and Mo Mater!  

[dutchman48]

Check cashing and payday loans are not banks!

I never said the other countries have it wrong. They operate under a completely different geographic area and population. ie: small countries with a large population of which Canada is the opposite.

And you know what, they are not doing well financially either as their postal rates are also very high so banking did not and will not fix that

By you statement, you do not want the Postal outlets to be a bank per se, but a check cashing establishment.,

My question for you is:

Have you ever worked for a bank?

I did for 25 years and believe me it is not easy and very complicated.

No way I would want CP to handle my banking or do you just want check cashing services?

Would you want 7-11 to handle your banking?

CP is a postal agency and has to operate as one and if that means cutting costs and needless services, they should be able to do it. The Union does not run CP and should quit trying to.

As I said before, I am sick and tired of rates constantly going up and the union trying to tie CP's hands to save themselves. No business today can survive for long under those conditions