Barcodes on Unaddressed Admail Project

On May 3 the employer held a meeting with the Regional CUPW and some locals in which they informed us that they would be rolling out their latest program which is implementing Barcodes for Unaddressed Admail.

As usual, this initiative was conducted without any input whatsoever from workers at Canada Post. Instead it was rolled out by the “Service and Quality” department of Canada Post.

Nationally, CUPW was informed on April 8, 2013, of this project and the fact that it was to be rolled out across the country starting in early May.

At the national consultation, the union asked for the time which is used by the process to be reflected in the values of the routes. A further consultation was scheduled to discuss the workload values and this has not yet been completed.

The employer has refused to wait. Instead they decided to roll out this “project” starting on May 13 in many locations.

The program is an insult to workers and it shows the level management has reached in respect to our work. In one screen on the scanner when the scanning is complete the boxes have been relabeled (see below):

The entire program has been rolled out with the threat of discipline and the Union pointed out that it won’t resolve most problems we have with service commitments. For example we cannot tell if there is a shortage or an overage until the delivery cycle is complete. The program does not address the time that is taken doing the work. The employer just stated that we do the work already without even reflecting that this is work that will be done twice and that we have to physically label overages and now scan the amounts in later.

If this employer was serious about service and quality, they would create projects which respected the work of letter carriers and the employer would ensure that workers are not being forced to work for free under the penalty of discipline for overtime. If the employer was serious about service and quality they would review routes that are over assessed instead of piling on more work and rushing employees to the point of breaking.

To be clear, the union does not and never will agree to such programs and initiatives of the employer. They are only designed to further crush workers and designed by “specialists” who know nothing about the work that postal workers do on the street.

We will have to grieve this project at the national level. It is apparent to us that we are not being paid for such additional work and it is also clear that this is a change in process and should be considered as technological change.

Change to Post Offices, Sections and Installations in Wickets

At the same meeting the employer also announced that they would be merging wicket operations into one large post office covering:

Vancouver Main
Bentall
Station D
West Vancouver
South Burnaby
Richmond
Port Coquitlam
Langley
Surrey
Aldergrove.

This will replace the existing structure which was:

Fraser Valley Retail Post Office
Tri-Cities Retail Post Office
Vancouver Retail Post Office

The presidents of all three Locals were in attendance so further details will come from the Locals. This change, which is without the support of the Union as well, will require a full shift bid of all the wicket clerks in the above areas.

The changes and the way the employer works against the Union are further signs that Conservative times are hard times for workers. The employer is instructed to attack our rights when Conservatives get elected. They enforce cuts and rollbacks of workers’ rights and they refuse to acknowledge the hard work that you do.

Do your part on May 14 and get rid of the right wing radicals who have run BC into the ground in the last 12 years and maybe in 2015 we can all get rid of Harper!

In solidarity,

John Bail
National Director