The Deerfoot MOA was a lie!
The Deerfoot MOA – An alternative to SSD?
In Deerfoot, Alberta, a Separate Sort from Delivery restructure was announced using Canada Post’s favourite excuse – the lack of floor space. Workers put their collective minds together and came up with a solution to the floor space issue that enabled 4 workers to use one sortation case. Under the Deerfoot Model, 2 carriers on each wave share the case. One carrier sorts their manual mail in the morning for that day’s delivery, the other sorts their manual mail in the afternoon for the next day’s delivery, similar to the SSD model but still using the sortation case with all its benefits such as red dots, redirection cards and the ability to keep case strips updated with the route.
The MOA became part of the 2022 contract!
In 2022, the Corporation agreed – in writing – to examine the Deerfoot model before implementing any future SSD restructures. But not once, not anywhere else in Canada has the Deerfoot model even been considered! It appears that this, along with other empty promises such as financial services at postal outlets, was nothing more than window dressing to get us to agree to a contract at a time where other Unions were beginning to demand their fair share for working through an unprecedented global pandemic while watching inflation eat away at their purchasing power.
We see the issues, let postal workers be a part of the solution!
Over the last few years, we’ve seen explosive growth in parcels and more advertisers shift their spending to Canada Post as local newspapers go bust. Still, Canada Post claims to be losing money at a time where every other logistics company is reporting record profits. We know that floor space is an issue in some depots, but their solution is like cutting the top half off a blanket, sewing it on to the bottom and claiming to have invented a longer blanket. Removing sortation from letter carriers only delays the mail and forces carriers to work outside for longer, putting more strain on their bodies.
Canada Post wants to restructure Burnaby 3 to an SSD depot, despite the fact that there is still an abundance of floor space! Canada Post needs to listen to its front line workers and find real solutions to the challenges ahead instead of a cookie cutter approach. Eliminating SSD is the top demand for the Urban unit, and we are not backing down! Canada Post must honour its commitment and meaningfully examine the Deerfoot Model as an alternative to SSD, and Canada Post should also pause all SSD restructures until after negotiations, before wasting more money they don’t have on a delivery system that simply does not work for postal workers.
In Solidarity,
Jamie McCurrach, 1st Vice President