Canadian union members to vote on postal strike action

Canada Post employees could stage walkouts from next month, after five months of talks with the Canadian Union of Postal Workers have failed to secure a new collective bargaining agreement. Negotiations by the union’s urban operations unit have stalled over issues including “insulting” proposals to reform sick leave, vacation and pension arrangements.

Union leaders are also seeking to protect jobs and improve working conditions in the light of Canada Post’s restructuring and technological investments through the multi-billion dollar Postal Transformation initiative.

The union said yesterday that it will put the possibility of a strike before its membership, and that a “yes” vote could mean postal workers across the country stopping work towards the end of April.

The vote is to take place from March 25 until April 17.

The CUPW had asked for a formal conciliation process with Canada Post after agreement failed to come by January. However, it said yesterday that the impasse at the bargaining table “shows no sign of abating”.

“It is difficult to negotiate when Canada Post’s demands for rollbacks stay on the table,” said Denis Lemelin, CUPW’s national president and chief negotiator in the current talks.

“They have been going after our sick leave, our pensions, our retirees and our newest members. All this while they are making profits. Why can’t they invest some of these profits in their people and communities instead of machines?”

While union negotiators south of the border face the need to cut costs, the CUPW is pointing out through its negotiations that unlike the US Postal Service, Canada Post has been reporting profits for almost 16 years.

The company made its last annual financial statement last April, when it reported a profit for the 15th consecutive year, with $281m net income on a $7.3bn revenue.

Technology

As well as guarding against changes to leave and pension arrangements, the CUPW is also intent on addressing problems it perceives with Canada Post’s Postal Transformation initiative.

Two-and-a-half years into a five-year strategy, the multi-billion dollar initiative is seeking to transform Canada Post’s network of facilities. The union claims the programme has “created problems nationwide” though the adoption of new technology, suggesting that new work methods had affected worker safety and caused “major problems” with service levels.

The union negotiating team has been urging Canada Post to maintain jobs in the current digital age by expanding services, such as in postal banking.

It pointed to postal operators in Brazil, New Zealand, Australia, France, Italy and the UK as making a move into enhancing services available through their postal networks.

“We have a historic opportunity here to improve the postal service and ensure that it remains a common good, working in everybody’s interests,” said Lemelin. “We hope that a strong strike vote from our members will force Canada Post to sit down and negotiate a reasonable settlement.”