With 16 straight years of profitability, including record profits in 2009 and postage rates lower than almost all other industrialized countries, the Canada Post negotiations should have been relatively easy. But it's Tory times in Canada and what better way is there for a right-wing government to attack the labour movement than by going after the Canadian Union of Postal Workers, a national and historically militant union?
Canada Post
CUPW keeps its options open in strike negotiations
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Ask your post office to do more for you, urges union
Canada Post has the largest vehicle fleet in the country and the most extensive coast-to-coast retail presence. It could dramatically expand the range of services it provides.
This idea may surprise certain segments of the population who are forecasting "the death of the letter" and even the post office because of an explosion of electronic technology and increased competition in the postal sector.
The fact is people, not machines or markets, will ultimately determine whether our public post office survives and thrives.
The privatization by stealth of Canada Post
Did you know that the Conservative minority government is smuggling certain controversial measures into its upcoming federal Budget Bill C-9? While all eyes are on the Rahim Jaffer/Helena Guergis scandal, some other shady business is getting overlooked.
Items that might prove unpopular, exposed to the light of public scrutiny, are being packaged and sold as part of a Budget that is quickly working its way through Parliament. The Conservatives are counting on the opposition's reluctance to have an election to get their Budget approved. But it is essential that the package is opened and its contents handled with care.
May 7, 2012 |
CUPW goes to court to oppose the appointment of a second arbitrator, after the first Harper government arbitrator appointed was ruled unqualified by the court.
November 18, 2011 |
The Supreme Court of Canada ruled in favour of PSAC today in a pay equity case involving women at Canada Post that was originally filed 28 years ago.
Lisa Raitt's three principles of labour law
Posted below is a slightly longer version of my column in today's Globe and Mail regarding the Harper government's highly creative approach to making up labour law on the run.
August 31, 2011 |
In the media and in parliament Canada Post management and Conservative politicians made all sorts of claims to justify the passage of back-to-work legislation. Now we can test these claims.
The impact of labour disputes vs. real threats to economic recovery
Now that the mail is being delivered again, Canada's economic prospects have brightened considerably. That is, if you believe the Harper government's claims that the phony shutdown of Canada Post by its own management constituted a real and present danger to the national recovery.
Canada Post's management wanted to cut wages for new hires and, ultimately, abolish the company's defined benefit pension plan. The union, naturally, resisted. But fearing back-to-work legislation, it organized rotating job actions rather than an all-out strike. So management shut down the whole operation, precipitating the desired government intervention. The resulting legislation imposed a wage settlement lower than what Canada Post had already offered.