Postal workers fight back to work legislation 2018

Radio Silence

As of 6:00 p.m. today, we have not received any communications from the Canada Post Negotiating Committee with respect to the offers we presented yesterday evening.

Nor have we received any reply from the Minister of Labour to our request that she appoint a mediator to assist the parties.

We will keep you informed as developments occur.

Canada Post Rejects our Offers and Wants a Cooling-Off Period!

On Monday, November 19, Canada Post responded to our November 17th global offers. CPC’s response simply said, “After having taken the time to assess them, we must advise that they cannot unfortunately form the basis of any potential settlements.”  

We Want Negotiated Collective Agreements

The Canadian Union of Postal Workers is calling on Canada Post to return to the bargaining table and negotiate a settlement now.

We want to remind you that the Union has always fought for its fundamental right to bargain collectively the working conditions of its members, an essential element of the right of association protected by the Canadian Charter of Rights. It has been recognized that this fundamental right includes the right to strike. 

We believe that our proposals can form the basis of collective agreements. To that end we have requested that the Minister of Labour appoint a mediator to assist the parties in negotiating a collective agreements. 

Cooling-Off Period?

This morning, Canada Post proposed a “cooling-off” period effective immediately and lasting through January 31.

We aren’t doing this to harm the public, but the proposal asks our members to go back to work at the heaviest and most stressful time of year, under the same conditions that produce the highest injury rate in the federal sector. It asks women to continue to do work for free. How can we do that?

CUPW negotiators have proposed concrete solutions to the major issues – the injury crisis, gender inequality, overburdening and precarious work – which Canada Post has rejected.

Strike Activities

Our strike activities will continue until we achieve the collective agreements that we deserve. Our right to strike is a fundamental right that we will not give up. Canada Post can resolve this dispute and end the strike activities by coming to the table with real solutions to address our concerns.

..i suspect it's to early in the process for anything to be done. more pressure is needed for canada post to move. like being closer to xmas or an all out strike.

..legislation is always a government option that posties face. it doesn't solve anything as the struggle moves off the street and continues on inside. the gov and cpc know this. 

CUPW Questions Claims of “Massive” Backlog

Welcomes mediator back, but feeling undermined by government tactics

Today, Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) members going to work are finding that the mail backlog has been highly exaggerated. The CUPW Toronto local reports that rather than the “hundreds of trailers” that Canada Post reported, they have about seventy – a backlog that can probably be cleared in a few days. Postal workers have seen one truck in London, six trailers in Hamilton, two in Halifax, 15 in Moncton, zero in Saint John and St. John’s.

“So where did all that mail go overnight?” asks Mike Palecek, CUPW National President. “We’re convinced that Canada Post manufactured a crisis just to get the government to intervene. If so, that’s a huge concern, and it will further poison our work environment and labour relations for years and years to come.”

Last night, Labour Minister Patty Hajdu re-appointed special mediator Morton Mitchnick to assist with negotiations between the Canadian Union of Postal Workers and Canada Post. At the same time, the government announced it will table back-to-work legislation if a deal is not reached within days.

CUPW is glad to have Mr. Mitchnick’s assistance again, but seriously concerned about the government’s tactics. “Our negotiators will do their best to reach a negotiated settlement, but the government’s announcement pulls the rug out from under us,” comments Palecek.

“Canada Post’s negotiators still have a brief opportunity to show up and bargain in good faith.

The Conservatives violated our right to free collective bargaining in 2011. Let’s hope it doesn’t happen again.”

CPC Says No and is Waiting for Legislation

So far Canada Post has not moved on any of our key issues. Justice Firestone stated in his decision that after the Conservative Government introduced the back-to-work legislation in 2011, that Canada Post hardened their position in bargaining. The effect of this legislation was to “substantially interfere” and “to disrupt the balance of a meaningful process of collective bargaining”.

Now We Wait and Prepare to Fight

We are still here and ready to negotiate, but what about Canada Post? We do not know what will be in the back-to-work legislation. No matter what, you have to be prepared to fight for your constitutional right for free collective bargaining. We went to court and won this fight after the 2011 legislation. We will fight once again, should that right be taken away.

Messaging From CPC Interim President and CEO

This afternoon while the parties were working with the mediator to try and make some progress, a letter from Jessica McDonald was being handed out on the work floor. This letter is a sales pitch from Canada Post trying to convince you that they tabled offers that addressed your concerns. This is not true. Nothing in Canada Post’s proposals dealt with short-term solutions to over-burdening and inequality. Nothing to reduce the day-to-day burden that you all face and nothing to address paying RSMCs for all hours worked.

Time to Remain Strong and United

The last four weeks have been very difficult for all postal workers and their families. With the impending legislation, things will get more difficult. We have shown Canada Post that we will not back down. We are proud and we will fight for what we deserve. 

NDP criticize Liberals over potential back-to-work legislation in Canada Post strike

..yes. i did searches and found nothing from labour other than the clc. even that was minimal.

..with the cons supporting the legislation can't see it being defeated though i'm open to be wrong. 

Unionist wrote:

epaulo13 wrote:

..yes. i did searches and found nothing from labour other than the clc. even that was minimal.

Yup. But CUPW will need to say something clear, strong, and soon - whatever it is they decide. 

Quote:

..with the cons supporting the legislation can't see it being defeated though i'm open to be wrong. 

It can't possibly be defeated. You're right about the numbers. But some government caucus members voting against their own cabinet's and PM's strike-breaking legislation would be historic, and could have repercussions for the future. I've got a feeling.

..the year parrot went to jail que psac threatened to walk out in support. there were community groups, senior groups, church groups, indigenous groups.  across the country support was telling the government not to pass legislation. it was an uprising of sorts. i wish we could see that today.    

..in the late 80' was the year mulroney tried to break the strike using strikebreakers..he failed. legislation was introduced with humungus penalties attached for defiance. staying out without real support of the labour movements would have been suicide. unfortunately labour support was only lip service.

..the liberals now see the weakness of the ndp. their challenge is coming from the right and will move right to address it.

CUPW Getting Reports of Canada Post Withholding Social Assistance Cheques

Yesterday, as she introduced the government’s back-to-work legislation, Minister Patty Hajdu told the House of Commons that the most vulnerable Canadians relied on Canada Post for cheques and had been negatively affected by the rotating strikes, referencing a man named Jack, who told her he could lose his home if he didn’t receive his disability cheque. 

Postal workers in many locations are reporting to CUPW that Canada Post management has directed them not to deliver any letter mail, including pension cheques and social assistance cheques – a direct violation of an agreement signed by the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) and Canada Post to deliver these types of cheques during strikes or lockouts.

“Our public post office distributes government cheques that are a fundamental part of the social safety net,” says Mike Palecek, CUPW National President. “We do not want the most vulnerable to suffer because of our dispute with Canada Post, which is why we signed an agreement in the first place. If people are not receiving their cheques, it is because Canada Post has chosen not to deliver them.”

Over the past five weeks of rotating strikes, Canada Post has manufactured crises, including a massive backlog of mail and now denying the most vulnerable people their government cheques, to push the government to introduce back-to-work legislation. It seems that the government has taken the bait.

“Withholding these cheques is not only deplorable, but is illegal and the Minister representing Canada Post should investigate these claims immediately,” adds Palecek.

..txs laine

Still Working with Mediator

As the debate carries on over the back to work legislation, your negotiating committee is continuing to work with mediator Mr. Morton Mitchnick. We will continue as long as we can to attempt and achieve negotiated collective agreements. Legislation and arbitration are not the way to resolve this dispute and to try and improve the relationship between CUPW and Canada Post.

Your Actions

Your actions and solidarity continue to give us strength and the determination to get this done. Please continue doing the great things that you have being doing. We are postal workers and we will never give up.

Mediator’s Mandate Extension Expires

After many attempts to resolve the many outstanding issues that were necessary to achieve negotiated collective agreements, the parties remain far apart. The extended mandate of the mediator Mr. Morton Mitchnick has now expired.

In spite of the continued assistance of the mediator, Canada Post failed to address your key demands on health and safety, staffing, over-burdening, job security, a reduction in precarious employment, fair wages for all and a better work-life balance.

Our Message to Canada Post and the Government

The members of CUPW have very long memories. We will not forget how you manipulated the facts to try and force us to accept less than we deserve. We did not accept collective agreements that would not improve our health and safety or other key issues. We will hold our heads high and continue our fight to improve our working conditions, work-life balance and our wages and benefits.

We Have Only Just Begun to Claim Our Power

The government has aligned themselves with Canada Post. They have legislated more pain, injuries and unpaid work. But they cannot legislate labour peace. Canada Post has the potential to do many great things for people and for our communities while creating safe, stable and decent jobs. And yet, we find ourselves back in a familiar place, where once again, the governing party has sided with the richest interests in the country, proving that corporations really control political power.

Minister of Labour Patty Hajdu, said throughout the negotiating process that she felt like a parent between two fighting children. In this case, that would make her a very abusive parent. While she often spoke of the importance of negotiated collective agreements, she also made up stories about a fictitious backlog and pensioners not receiving their cheques in order to fast-track the government’s back to work legislation. Hajdu said she’d heard from a man she identified only as Jack who faced eviction from his home due to delays in receiving his disability cheque. It has since been confirmed by her office that there is no Jack. Here we have a Parliamentarian so cynical as to make up stories, while our members continue to be injured and management holds back letters. 

The fix was in, but power speaks to power. Take heart. There is not only one side here. You have shown power and we have only just begun. One might ask what is the point of striking for better conditions when it is a game to benefit the boss and when the fix is in? Today, we should all take a deep breath. We should not feel disheartened. Our struggle has reached a new phase. We have made those in power declare openly where their loyalty lays and it is not with those forced to work like machines and do work for which they are not paid.

WE WERE SET UP

The crisis that led to the Liberal legislation was a set-up. It was manufactured and dishonest. We know management held up letter mail. We know they exaggerated the backlog of mail. The crisis was not real. The real crisis is working in pain and doing work for which you are not paid. Precarious jobs and workplace disrespect are an epidemic.

Any reasonable person, more honest than Liberal parliamentarians, would know they are receiving mail. Unless, of course it is being withheld by Canada Post, as in the case of the letter mail.

THIS IS NOT OVER

Real power is in the work we do, the relationships we build, and the lives we lead. Power happens when we stand up for each other and realize that the hurting has to stop. That power arises from our dignity when we state enough is enough. Power rests in unity, when we see ourselves not just as individuals, but also as a growing collective force. We have power and we can keep exercising it. Power only rests in Parliament if we allow it.

Violations of the Canadian constitution, lying to obtain legislation, and sending signals to Canada Post that they do not have to negotiate, are now the legacy of the government. Not over our bodies. We are in a new phase of the struggle and will never accept that workers will continue to be hurt to please wealthy corporations and dishonest politicians. This is not over. The Liberals are going into an election year.  Let us remember what they have done and let us remember that we don’t need to wait for an election to build our power and turn this around.

Stay tuned and stay solid. We are not victims here, but rather, we are like a tired giant that was pushed around too many times, and is awakening. When a very dishonest government thinks they can violate the constitution and punish us with more pain and injuries, this is what happens. We have only just begun to claim our power.

We Support CUPW in the Fight Against Bill C-89

Solidarity Ottawa is taking this opportunity to publicly state our support for the membership of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) as they face the Liberal government’s unconstitutional Bill C-89, legislation intended to end their legal and entirely justified strike action. CUPW has made their members’ fight for basic health and safety and gender equality the front page news they need to be.

We want to be clear: Solidarity Ottawa supports CUPW in any and all steps it may choose to take in response to this illegitimate legislation, up to and including a decision to defy it.

Bill C-89 was put together in support of the employer side to, once again, interfere with free collective bargaining and postal workers’ Charter rights to freedom of association. This deep set class preference is also visible this week in the government’s claims of helplessness in the face of GM’s announced closure of their Oshawa plant with the loss of thousands of jobs — after billions of public bailout dollars were given to the company in 2009. Private profits restored — jobs lost.

Labour history in Canada has repeatedly shown that governments will reflexively side with employers by forcing workers back to work with legislation that is later deemed unconstitutional by the courts. By again introducing this back to work legislation, the Trudeau government is following the same anti-union script as the Harper Conservatives in their 2011. That legislation, also used against CUPW, was found unconstitutional by an Ontario court – but not until five years after it was introduced.

We agree with CUPW that this new Liberal legislation violates the fundamental rights and freedoms of targeted workers. We view it, and we should treat it, as an illegal law – not worthy of our respect....

video report

Postal workers shut down Canada's largest mail depotLast night, on the eve of enactment of back-to-work legislation they've described as unconstitutional, striking postal workers blockaded the Gateway facility in Mississauga, blocking traffic in and out. It handles two-thirds of Canada's mail and has been described as the heart of Canada Post.

In support of our posties #CUPW #BCFED18 #UnionStrong @bctf

https://twitter.com/hashtag/cupw?src=hash&lang=de

..again the 23rd

VIDEO REPORT: This morning postal workers occupied the offices of at least a half dozen Liberal ministers and MPs, calling on the government to respect the collective bargaining process and withdraw controversial back-to-work legislation that would end the legal strike at Canada Post.

Ricochet had a journalist at the occupation of Finance Minister Bill Morneau's office, and they produced this video report from the scene.

Community Picket Lines Set Up in Halifax and Edmonton

This morning, we were informed that union and community members in Nova Scotia set up picket lines at the Halifax Processing Plant. In solidarity with postal workers, the protest-line allowed workers in, but did not allow mail out for a few hours. A similar action is also being held by at the Edmonton Postal Plant.

This action comes after members from several major unions in British Columbia and Ontario disrupted mail delivery with demonstrations outside processing plants in Richmond, Hamilton and Windsor.

“You cannot legislate labour peace,” says CUPW National President Mike Palecek. “There are fifty thousand union members that have been prohibited from picketing at post offices in this country, and three million who haven’t. We are not the only ones willing to defend the right of free collective bargaining.”

What we’re seeing in Halifax and Edmonton today in addition to Vancouver, Windsor and Hamilton this week, is that instead of resolving our dispute with Canada Post, the Trudeau Government has picked a fight with labour. “An injury to one is an injury to all” is much more than a slogan.

Solidarity with CUPW: Against the PC-Liberal Clampdown

The Socialist Project expresses solidarity with the courageous actions across Canada in defence of the postal workers’ right to strike this morning.

We are proud that a number of our members participated in the pickets that shut down the Canada Post sorting facility in Mississauga.

These events remind us that rights are only won and preserved through working class struggles from below – a lesson as important now as ever before, as the federal Liberal government joins with the hard right PC government in Ontario in attacking the right to strike by imposing back-to-work legislation. Indeed, the bipartisan clampdown on the right to strike has been exhibited by the Ontario Liberal Wynne government’s attack on provincial college workers, the Ford PC attack on York University workers, and now Trudeau and the federal Liberals attack on postal workers.

We condemn in the strongest possible terms the crackdown this morning by the increasingly authoritarian state on non-violent demonstrators defending basic rights in Canada and Ontario.

We welcome the statement issued by CUPE Ontario, which displays a commitment to working class mobilization that has become all too rare in today’s labour movement. Only by mobilizing in this way can unions hope to not merely defend past gains, but also make real improvements in the lives of workers and build workers’ power....

Actions Continue from Coast to Coast

We continue to hear of news that allies have blockaded Canada Post facilities in various locations. The labour movement is stepping up in a big way to support postal workers and fight for the right to free collective bargaining.  In Toronto, allies blocked the Gateway facility, facing down an injunction and police threats. In Halifax over the weekend, six people were arrested for blocking the Halifax Mail Processing Plant.  This morning we have heard of reports of blockades/pickets in Ottawa, Oshawa and Hamilton.  This comes after a weekend of demonstrations in 27 cities across the country.

The Liberal government thought they could legislate labour peace. They have been proven wrong.

We have also received guarantees of interest-free loans, if needed from many unions. The labour movement is prepared to put up millions of dollars for postal workers to fight this legislation in the streets and on the picket lines.

CUPW will never forget this growing display of solidarity in action. It is clear that this fight is no longer just about postal workers. This fight is about the right to free collective bargaining and impacts every worker in this country.

Nothing in Bill C-89 precludes the Canada Post and CUPW from settling collective agreements at any point.  It is time for Canada Post to get back to the table and negotiate!

Community Picket Lines Set Up in London

This morning, we were informed that Union and community members in London, Ontario set up picket lines outside the Mail Processing Plant. In solidarity with postal workers, the protest-line allowed workers in, but did not allow mail out.

This action comes after members from several major unions from in British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and Nova Scotia disrupted mail delivery with demonstrations outside processing plants in Richmond, Edmonton, Mississauga, Hamilton, Windsor and Halifax.

“You cannot legislate labour peace,” says CUPW National President Mike Palecek. “There are fifty thousand union members that have been prohibited from picketing at post offices in this country, and three million who haven’t. We are not the only ones willing to defend the right of free collective bargaining.”

What we are seeing over the last week, is that instead of resolving our dispute with Canada Post, the Trudeau Government has picked a fight with labour. “An injury to one is an injury to all” is much more than a slogan.

“We are overwhelmed by the display of solidarity from across the country over the last week,” adds Palecek. “Our allies have braved the cold, the rain and even the police to picket for us when our right to strike was taken away. It’s clear that this fight is no longer just about postal workers. It is about the right to free collective bargaining and it impacts every worker in this country.”

Holiday Season and Overburdening

The holiday season is upon us once again. This is the busiest time of the year in terms of workload, as parcel and Admail volumes are at their highest in the weeks leading up to the holidays.  

While your employer alleges it takes your health and safety seriously, you are the one who can best protect yourself from harm. You have the right to refuse to perform dangerous work!  At times, we are faced with having to decide between serving our customers well and protecting our physical and mental well-being and safety.

Too often, we have to deal with severe or even extreme weather conditions, dangerous situations such as workplace violence, a high level of stress caused by an excessive workload and long hours of work, even more so at this time of the year. All of these situations can lead to anxiety and jeopardize our health and safety.

That is why it is important to remember that workers have an individual right to refuse, which is recognized by some collective agreements and the Canada Labour Codes.

You have the right to refuse work if you have reasonable grounds to believe that the performance of this work will endanger your health and safety, or physical well-being, or may similarly endanger a co-worker.

HOW TO EXERCISE YOUR RIGHT TO REFUSE

Under the Collective Agreement

For urban unit members, inform your supervisor and shop steward immediately that you are invoking your right to refuse under clause 33.13 of the collective agreement.

As soon as the employer is informed, it must conduct an investigation in your presence, if you wish, and in the presence of union representatives or a member of the Local Joint Health and Safety Committee representing the employees, to determine whether an immediate action is needed to eliminate potential risks.

Until the situation is remedied, the employer cannot assign any other worker to the portion of the work that gave rise to the refusal.

Under the Canada Labour Code

RSMCs and members of federally certified private sector units can exercise their right to refuse under the appropriate provisions included in Part II of the Canada Labour Code (Section 128). Provincially certified units follow their provincial labour codes.

In the federal sector, you must inform the employer, who must conduct an investigation in your presence immediately. 

If the employer does not remedy the situation to your satisfaction, and you wish to maintain your right of refusal, you must inform the employer and the Local Health and Safety Committee or the health and safety representative (offices with fewer than 20 employees). The Committee will then designate two members (an employee representative and an employer representative) to conduct an investigation.

Following this process, if the employer concludes there is no danger, it must advise you in writing and, if you do not think it is safe, that is when you must inform the Minister of Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) that you wish to continue to refuse.

Please contact your Local or regional office if you are under provincial regulations.

Taking our health and safety seriously at work can make a difference between being seriously injured, which could have a long-term impact, or lead to death, and being able to spend precious time with the people you love and be able to truly enjoy the upcoming holidays.

The struggle continues!