Canadian postal workers could strike next week, says union
(Updated 8.30pm): The Canadian Union of Postal Workers urged its members this evening to prepare for a postal strike “in the very near future”, although there will not be a strike until at least Wednesday (June 1). The union has been negotiating with Canada Post since October for a new urban unit collective bargaining agreement, but a period of mediation in recent weeks has failed to bring the two sides to a compromise.
CUPW members said they are now “drawing a line in the sand” and are close to issuing the legally-required 72 hours’ notice to strike.
A statement issued late today (May 27) said union negotiators will meet with the union’s executive board over the weekend to plan the CUPW’s next move “given the refusal of CPC management to address our demands”.
“In this context, the CUPW National Executive Board has decided not to submit a 72-hour strike notice today. Consequently, there will be no strike activity on May 31st,” said the union.
But, it added: “All members should be prepared to participate in strike action in the very near future.”
Mediator
The stand-off has continued after yesterday’s meeting between the CUPW and Canada Post negotiating teams in the presence of the official mediator, Jacques Lessard, which saw the union continuing its demands for its members to be rewarded for 16 consecutive years of profitability at Canada Post, while the postal operator continued its intention to keep ahead of ongoing mail volume declines with cost-cutting measures.
The CUPW, which represents around 48,000 urban and suburban postal workers, said it challenged Canada Post’s claims at the mediation meeting that suggested current union demands would cost the Corporation an extra $1.4bn over the four years of the proposed collective bargaining agreement.
The CUPW added that Canada Post had not been able to explain how union demands would require creation of 3,000 extra jobs effective February 2011.
Prepared
Today, CUPW representatives said enough was enough, and that it was now “prepared” to file the 72-hour strike notice for the first postal strike in Canada since 1997.
“We have now reached the point where we may have to give notice that in 72 hours, we will be forced to strike if Canada Post does not drop its rollbacks and address some of our demands,” said Bev Ray, president of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) Edmonton Local.
“Canada Post has made 16 straight years of profit and has contributed $1.2 billion to the federal government in dividends and income taxes over the last 15 years. Postal workers help to keep Canada Post profitable – our hard work saves the public money.”
Ray added that her union was still keen to negotiate an agreement with Canada Post to “fix staffing problems, forced overtime problems, delivery method problems, and health and safety issues”.
But she claimed: “It appears Canada Post has no interest in improving service – it is focused only on cutting labour costs by attacking our wages and benefits and on cutting services.”
It is time reality set in for this union that have indeed helped CPC achieve many years of profits, however with labour costs running upwards of 80%, losses are inevitable unless some tough decisions are made. It is clear that CPC is making the tough decisions that have been accepted by the three other bargaining groups who are interested in saving their jobs. CUPW on the otherhand are content in “cutting their noses to spite their collective faces” and risk having a strike that’ll only prove that CPC has lost it’s relevance at which time the only answer will be layoffs for the CUPW membership.