LOCAL 846
May 10, 2019
Bulletin # 077
We have now completed 12 days of hearings on our collective agreement(s) arbitration.
Day 10
The tenth day of the arbitration consisted of the expert testimony from Dr. Richard Shillington on the percentage of coverage for letter carrier routes. Some of the key issues about this formula are:
Bicycle and car couriers in the Toronto area working for Foodora, an app-based food delivery company, have been working with our organizers in a campaign to join CUPW. The couriers are fighting for better health and safety protections, fair compensation for they work they perform, and for the right to join a union. continue reading here
Bulletin #529
May 7, 2019
On May 1st, the Consultative Committee on Benefits (CCB) had their annual spring meeting. The CCB committee consists of three unions: CUPW, Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) and the Canadian Post Masters and Assistants Association (CPAA) as well as Canada Post.
No Premium Increase
At the spring meeting, we discuss the costs of our benefits and whether there will be a change in premiums. It has been decided that there will be no change in premiums for the next year. The monthly premiums will continue to be:
| Benefit | Single Coverage | Family Coverage |
| EHCP RSMCs <12 hours | $1.14 | $2.05 |
| EHCP all others | $5.39 | $9.72 |
| Dental | $1.47 | $3.28 |
| Basic Life Insurance | $16.00* | n/a |
| Disability Insurance | $81.00* | n/a |
*based on an employee with an annual salary of $50,000
The premium holiday for Hospital Option A and B is also maintained.
Benefit Provider
At the May 1st meeting Canada Post also informed us that they have put out a Request for Proposal (RFP) for all their benefit providers. Currently Great West Life is the benefit provider for EHCP, Dental, Vision and Hearing and Short Term Disability. Sun Life is the provider for Long Term Disability and Homewood is the provider for the Employee Assistance Program.
At this moment we do not know the impact, if any, it will have on the members but we have provisions in the Collective Agreements, which prevents changes in benefit levels. Once we know more we will update you.
Solidarity!
Cathy Kennedy
Negotiating Committee Member
Joanne Gomercich
National Union Representative
Grievance & Arbitration
May 3, 2019
Islam is not our enemy. Faithful and generous people are not a burden. Ignorance, stupidity and hatred should be our targets, not people of faith. Whether Jews in a California or Pittsburgh synagogue, Christians in a Sri Lankan cathedral, or worshippers at mosques in Quebec City or New Zealand, this can and must stop. Keep on reading
May 3,2019
Bulletin # 076
There have been many questions on how the retroactive wage increases will impact the pensions of those members who retired after December 31, 2017 (RSMC) or January 31, 2018 (Urban Ops) and those planning on retiring before the arbitrator’s decision is implemented. Canada Post has confirmed that the retroactivity shall apply to both wage increases and pension calculations.
Retroactive Wage Increases
Any members who have or will retire in the above mentioned period, will receive a retroactive payment, based on the wage increases for each day during this period that they received pay from Canada Post. There will be pension contributions withheld from this payment. Both CUPW and CPC have proposed wage increases for each year of the new collective agreements. However, we do not know yet how much those wage increases will be, as they shall be determined by the arbitrator.
Pension Retroactivity
We Must Protect Our Pensions!
In Solidarity,
Nancy Beauchamp
Chief Negotiator, RSMC Unit
Sylvain Lapointe
Chief Negotiator, Urban Unit
CUPW is proud to stand with SITUAM in their fight for respect of their collective agreement and union rights, better social conditions, and wages that enable workers to live in dignity.
SITUAM is a union of 6000 members who work at the Metropolitan Autonomous University, Mexico’s third-largest university. Many of its professors were activists in the student movement of 1968 and the union continues to be militant in its struggle for a better Mexico and better workplaces in the university. SITUAM represents all categories of workers in one union – it unites labourers, professors, and everyone else in common struggle.
Since SITUAM formed in 1974, real wages of their membership have fallen by 60%. The University has been misclassifying new hires in order to exclude them from membership.
They’ve been on strike since February 1 of this year. A movement – aiming to hold the Mexican government to its promises to revoke the neoliberal education reforms of the last five years – has been organized around this strike. This strike can help Mexican labour to build the strength to reverse neoliberal policies and challenge authoritarian policies in the national government.
Doctor Edur Velasco Arregui, former Secretary-General of SITUAM, visited the CUPW national office today to ask for our support. We offer our solidarity to SITUAM as they bargain a return to decent liveable wages, fight to make the university respect their collective agreement, and resist the austerity agenda in the university system.
La lucha continua!
Solidarity,
Jan Simpson
1st National Vice-President
2015-2019 / Bulletin # 525
Narrow-minded Corporate Plan excludes new revenue streams and service expansion – For Immediate Release April 18, 2019
Ottawa – On April 16, 2019, Canada Post quietly tabled its Corporate Plan in Parliament and to no one’s surprise, at least not to the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW), the forecast was more doom and gloom.
“Canada Post has a history of projecting losses and then outperforming their projections, while using those projections to cry poor to the public and at the bargaining table,” says Mike Palecek, CUPW National President. “This plan underscores the Corporation’s aversion to building a sustainable post office of the future.”
CUPW was excited when the Liberal government announced in 2018 that its vision for Canada Post called for reinvestments into service initiatives and innovation. For years, the Union has championed growing Canada Post’s revenue from expanded and new services like postal banking, senior check-ins and more services at postal counters.
Instead, Canada Post’s plan looks to cut services, which would put an extra strain on an already overburdened workforce, where serious injuries have increased by 39 percent over the last two years.
The language in this plan suggests that Canada Post sees its employees as financial burdens, suggesting that pension payments and pay equity account for most of its perceived financial woes.
“For decades, Canada Post was not complying with pay equity law and exploiting women workers,” says Palecek. “Finally, these women have justice and Canada Post is in no position to complain about finally following the law.”
CUPW addressed all these issues at the bargaining table, and even made some headway with Canada Post until back-to-work legislation halted that work. “It’s time for us to go back to the bargaining table, resolve our issues and invest in the future of our post office,” says Palecek.