Industrial Inquiry Commission Update: Day 4 of Hearings
Today, February 20, the Industrial Inquiry Commission resumed for a fourth day of hearings with both CUPW and Canada Post presenting their rebuttals.
The Parties were asked to provide detailed costed proposals for this month’s hearings. While CUPW presented well-thought out and researched proposals, the Corporation repeated the same old talking points without submitting documentation or costing to prove that its proposals could return Canada Post to financial sustainability. The Corporation instead proposed new language.
Canada Post asks to have CUPW’s revenue-generating solutions tossed from final report
Canada Post asked the Commission to decline recommendations for service expansion not related to its transformation plans including CUPW’s costed proposals supported by overwhelming evidence from successful international examples of revenue-generating services, like France’s Banque Postale – which just posted a massive $3 billion in profits – three times the value of Canada Post’s recent government loan. This is despite Canada Post proceeding with MyMoney accounts, displaying how disingenuous Canada Post is.
Canada Post blamed “rigid staffing models” for its losses but didn’t provide any evidence. It pointed to competitors who only deliver in lucrative urban areas.
Canada Post has said it needs to offer affordable weekend delivery. CUPW has illustrated how the Collective Agreement provides solutions and presented costed proposals for full-time workers – but this was dismissed by Canada Post which kept insisting on a part-time flex model – instead of good, stable full-time jobs.
Canada Post also wants to push forward with dynamic routing. CUPW attempted to pilot a project with Canada Post in 2017. Canada Post blamed CUPW for the failure of an agreed plan – but provided no evidence to support their assertion.
CUPW held Canada Post’s feet to fire
CUPW countered many of Canada Post’s claims such as the amount of letter carrier work not assessed by the LCRMS, most notably, the delivery of flyers. CUPW also outlined flaws in Canada Post’s flex-part-time plans, including that it would cost more in vehicle expenses than the overtime the Corporation says it will save. We also discussed issues pertaining to RSMCs.
We reminded the Commissioner again that this Commission can’t be a substitute for collective bargaining and it’s not the right place to discuss the structure of Canada Post. The correct venue to discuss Canada Post’s mandate and regulation is through a full public mandate review, with open hearings that include all stakeholders from all communities across the country.
Next Steps The next hearing has been scheduled for March 25, although its exact purpose has yet to be determined. We encourage all members to sign up for 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 #214
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