President's Message September 2012
The Union's National office has reported that the last government appointed arbitrator has been removed by a federal court judge. This a the second time the government has lost in the courts in its attempts to pick bias, unqualified arbitrators, in order to force an unfair collective agreement on the Urban Operations Postal Workers. The Reform Conservatives agenda is to pay for the private sector losses and their budget deficit at the expense of the working class and unions. Even though we did not cause the problems and in spite of the negative effect taking away good paying wages and benefits has on the economy. The lessons of the current economic turmoil in Europe and the United States are lost on this government.
On the heels of the latest court decision, the employer has decided to make an offer to the Union. Unfortunately they have added additional rollbacks in what appears to be a cynical attempt to bully the Union and its members because they are crying poor. If you recall, the Union through the fall and winter of last year were willing to continue negotiating but Canada Post was not interested because they gambled that the government appointed arbitrator would give them everything they wanted. We all know that the unnecessary lock out and court settlement on pay equity with a different bargaining unit caused the losses last year. In spite of this the Union is calling back our negotiating committee for the Urban Operations and will make very effort to reach a negotiated settlement. We will see if Canada Post is serious about negotiating or is simply playing games again at our and the public expense.
The Local consulted with Canada Post on September 10, 2012, regarding the changes in the Hamilton Mail Processing Plant (HMPP) for the London/Winsdor draw going back to the London plant. This will affect the Induction, Dock, and Shift 1 Mech sections. The initial proposal does not contain any job losses. The employer is proposing schedule changes and job movements which would require a section bid in the affected sections. The proposal has been posted at the HMPP for the members to review. The Local is having a follow up consultation on September 17, 2012, on the matter.
The Local consulted at the director level to address the problem of temporary and permanent accommodations. The number of members who are getting injured at work, and that are suffering serious medical conditions, is at chronic levels. We are receiving complaints on a daily basis about the employers unwillingness to honour existing accommodations and modified duties of injured workers on the mend. The employer is trying to get away with sending people home and in some cases without pay. The collective agreement and the human rights act is very clear that every employer, including Canada Post, has an obligation to accommodate disabled employees. Please call the Union as soon as management fails to meet its obligation and file a grievance. Members also have the right to file a complaint to the Canadian Human Rights Commission.
There are a number of reasons why there are so many injured and disabled members. Postal Transformation and the increased work load has had a negative impact on postal workers. This is colliding with the ageing work force. Newly hired employees are facing unrealistic expectations by the employer. The Local continues to get reports from clerks, letter carriers, and rural carriers, that Canada Post is forcing unreasonable work loads on them. Management's reluctance to fill vacancies in the plant and in the rural and suburban offices is not helping either.
I attended the Regional President's meeting, along with 1st Vice-President, Terry Langley, on September 8th & 9th, 2012, in Woodstock, Ontario. The CUPW National, 1st Vice-President, Gayle Bossenbury, was in attendance and provided updates on the Urban Operations and Rural & Suburban Mail Carriers (RSMC) contract negotiations. The Local president's were given a national grievance report and it showed the Ontario Region is still filing the most grievances in the country. We were also given details of the agreement reached with Canada Post on the ergonomic study for the new reaching device for the RSMC's.
Corporate fun fact: In spite of running companies and economies into the ground worldwide, the Economist magazine is reporting in its Sept\ 8th, 2012, issue that, “In 2010 the average [pay] package for an S&P 500 CEO was $10 million and the median CEO took home $8.5 million.”
In solidarity,
Mark Platt
President,
Hamilton Local 548