Today, January 27, CUPW and Canada Post presented their first in person submissions to the Industrial Inquiry Commission in front of Commissioner William Kaplan regarding the questions Minister MacKinnon asked under Section 108 of the Canada Labour Code.
CUPW presented its two-, five- and ten-year vision for Canada Post and addressed the key questions that were assigned as terms of reference to the Commission. We spoke about our concerns with the financial situation of Canada Post and questioned the Corporation’s narrative and the transparency behind their numbers. Our presentation also addressed the need for Canada Post to add to its revenue generating sources to diversify its sources of income. We spoke about the need for weekend and evening delivery, but not at the expense of good jobs.
In our written submission to the Commission, it was also important for us to go over the collective agreement provisions we negotiated with Canada Post around job security, full-time employment and protections for the health and safety of our members. In this round of bargaining, Canada Post seems to want to go back on some of these commitments.
We answered questions from Mr. Kaplan around service expansion proposals, our delivery models and existing provisions in the collective agreement, and a $1 billion missed revenue opportunity by keeping postage rate increases significantly lower than the rest of the world from 2018 to 2023.
Canada Post made four presentations including updates on Canada Post finances, the Canadian postal market, Canada Post operations and Doug Ettinger presented the future vision of Canada Post.
When Commissioner Kaplan pressed Canada Post repeatedly on what its plan was to reach a collective agreement in May to avoid an impasse, Canada Post ducked and dodged – but ended with saying their repeated line of the need for flexibility and also the need for structural change.
However, Canada Post failed to mention its large pay equity payments in its financial presentation.
Canada Post’s reference to its revenue problem only spoke about labour costs and it did not discuss the impact that low interest rates had on increasing pension and retiree benefit costs during 2018-2023. It also stated that it continues to look for revenue opportunities – which we highly question given our experience at service expansion meetings over the last several years.
Day Two
The second day of hearings takes place tomorrow, January 28, and begins at 9:00am ET. CUPW and Canada Post will present their rebuttals to the day one presentations. Members can use the same Zoom webinar link to watch the proceedings. Please note there is a limit of 1000 observers – you will not be able to participate.
While we are participating in this process, we are determined to get negotiated collective agreements that meet the needs of our members. We are committed to strengthening Canada Post’s standing in the parcel sector, meeting the needs of all who rely on the mail, and ensuring that Canada Post expands its services offerings to generate more revenue.
We encourage all members to sign up for CUPW eDigest to receive the latest Union news and updates directly in your email inbox.
Sign up here: https://www.cupw.ca/en/cupw-edigest
In solidarity,
Jan Simpson
National President
2023-2027 / Bulletin #206