Thursday October 1 2015
2015-2019/039
In the past few months letter carriers have been receiving a high number of compressed householder mailings. For example, householder mailings with a 3 day or 5 day delivery span are compressed into a 1 or 2 day delivery span. This creates a lot of extra work for members and, in some instances, an overburdening situation.
The Union brought this issue to National Consultation on June 23, 2015, and the Employer explained that changes to Event Manager went into effect on June 1 to re-adjust the delivery cycle for “Upon Receipt” mailings that were inducted on multiple days. This upgrade to Event Manager changes the delivery start date for “Upon Receipt” mailings to the last date that a mailing was inducted.
The bigger problem however is delays in Canada Post transportation. Event Manager was upgraded to an “automatic compression” setting for late mailings due to Canada Post transportation delays. Canada Post assured the Union that they would “target and address those underlying issues in areas where auto-compression rates remain high”.
At Consultation on September 23, 2015, Canada Post acknowledged that some mailings inducted in a plant are not fully transported to depots. In some cases only 22% of a mailing is received at the depot on time.
Canada Post did not propose to the Union any tangible solutions to deal with the transportation delays other than having plant management review reports listing Statement of Mailing (SOM) numbers and to “look inside the 4 walls of the plant for this product to expedite transfer to the depot”.
This is unacceptable.
After the 2007 round of negotiations, Canada Post and CUPW created a Joint Task Force to find causes and ultimately reduce compression of householders. One of the biggest findings by the Joint Task Force was the need to modify the Event Manager System. This interim “fix” at the depot level reduced the amount of compressed mailings dramatically and satisfied both parties. That is until now.
Canada Post has committed to provide to the Union by October 2, 2015, options to ensure any negative impact to employees is minimized.
The Union will review any proposals from Canada Post and share this information with members expeditiously.
In the meantime please provide to your Local or Regional Office, or directly to Sister Rona Eckert, National Union Representative (Consultation), all details relating to any compressed householder mailings that you receive, including your local information, how many mailings, the name of the mailing (SOM #), length of compressed delivery days, any overtime worked, summary of any meetings with local management, etc. In our efforts to correct this situation the Union needs to have as much information as possible.
Thank you for your assistance in this matter.
Solidarity,
Rona Eckert
National Union representative – Consultation