President's Message December 2012
The National Union is reporting that the Urban & Rural tentative agreements have been passed across the country. I am proud to report that in this Local the membership voted strongly against both tentative agreements. This is the first time in my experience in the Hamilton Local that the vote results were not similar to the national trend. I would like to thank National Director, Gerry Deveau, for coming to both the Urban and Rural votes and eloquently explaining why supporting these tentative agreements was a mistake for the membership. I want to thank the Local Executive for organizing and speaking out strongly against the many flaws in these agreements. I also would like the thank the membership for coming out and voting and especially the Rural and Suburban members because of their high turn out. A special thanks goes out to the volunteers who assisted the Local in the Urban votes, Bill, Schultz, Noreen Campbell, and Cindy Bowman.
Members are already voicing their great disappointment at both agreements being so strenuously recommended by the National Union. Some members are saying that if they put as much effort into negotiating as they did selling these bad contracts we would be in a different position right now. I think we have to keep in mind that many of the postal transformation changes have not touch every part of the country yet. I have no doubt that many members who voted in favour of these flawed contracts will live to regret it as they face postal transformation and the serious negative consequences of the new contractual language. While an imposed contract was inevitable, the Union missed an opportunity to give the membership some time and delay the negative aspects. I have also had many members complain about the lack of leadership coming out of the Union's national office and unwillingness to fight. After every contract is settled there is a national president's meeting and we will be bringing to National's attention the fall out of their decision.
The Local posted the 6.05 notice served by Canada Post at the Hamilton Mail Processing Plant (HMPP) to eliminate all sections and to create entirely new ones. The Local will be consulting with management in January 2013 about the changes and we will provide details as we receive them. The employer plans on implementing the changes by March 2013. Now that management has a freer hand in the new contract there will be series of break neck changes affecting everyone at the plant. Expect more job deletions and continued harassment by management.
Management's route measurement officers have already informed letter carriers at the Burlington Main and Burlington LCD 8 restructures that there will be significant job loss. It is unfortunate that management saw fit to tell the letter carriers before Christmas that so many of them would be losing their positions. Final consultation has not taken place between the parties. This continues a pattern of job loss for restructures were the employer plans on job cuts even before the restructure begins. This should make it clear to the letter carriers in Burlington, if it was not obvious already, that even though they did not go through postal transformation management was going to cut jobs.
While the changes taking place in the new year will have a huge impact on the membership, I think it is important to remember that there have been many successes locally because the membership, the shop stewards, the health & safety committees, and the Local, fight the employer. When you give up the fight, or choose to fight another day, you have no chance of winning. The boss only pushes harder when they think we will not push back. Please remember in the new year to exercise your collective agreement rights and to make sure you always have representation when dealing with management. Always keep a record of everything you do because with the massive changes it is more important then ever. As the lawyers like to say, any evidence is as good as the paper it is written on.
On behalf of the Hamilton Local Executive, I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, and a Happy Holidays.
In solidarity,
Mark Platt
President,
Hamilton Local 548