Canada Post’s Malicious Schemes Exposed! CUPW Awarded $31,500.00 in Compensatory and Punitive Damages!

In a landmark national policy arbitration ruling, Arbitrator Guy Dulude has ordered Canada Post to pay $31,500.00 in punitive damages to the Union and several of its officers as a result of its illegal actions both during and after two Regional Forums that were held in Vancouver and Richmond on June 25 and 26, 2009.

Canada Post’s illegal actions included the employment of goon tactics to physically prevent full-time CUPW officers from attending the forum held at the Richmond Delivery Center on June 26, 2009, despite their legal right to be there, and a “ban” subsequently imposed on a full-time CUPW Regional Officer.

In his ruling, Arbitrator Dulude found that Canada Post deliberately violated Section 94 of the Canada Labour Code as well as various provisions of the Collective Agreement and awarded compensatory and punitive damages in order to deter Canada Post from engaging in similar illegal conduct in the future.

June 25, 2009 Forum – VMPP

The incidents that gave rise to the grievance occurred in relation to two Regional Forums that were held in Vancouver and Richmond on June 25 and 26, 2009 respectively. Both forums included presentations by former CEO Moya Greene and Vice-President Doug Jones and involved representations relating to working conditions and negotiated benefits, matters falling squarely under the jurisdiction of bargaining unit rights.

During the June 25, 2009 forum, Jones promoted a new form of sick leave which he described as “top of the class” and “gold-standard”. Moya Greene made similar comments and informed employees that changes had to be made. Both were referring to the Short Term Disability plan (STD), which Canada Post hopes to introduce to the CUPW bargaining unit during the upcoming round of collective bargaining.

Both Greene and Jones were using the forum as a platform to sell the controversial Manulife-administered plan directly to the CUPW membership, bypassing the process of negotiations.

The June 25th meeting became somewhat raucous after many employees took offence with Jones’s questionable comments about fraudulent IOD claims and sick leave abuse.

In the question and answer period that followed, former CEO Moya Greene abruptly interrupted CUPW’s Regional Grievance Officer while he was in the process of speaking to the representations that were made regarding the STD plan. Greene stated that it was not a “union-management” meeting and the microphone was turned off. Greene then went on to describe the controversial STD plan as “gold-plated”.

The June 26, 2009 Ambush – RDC

Following the June 25th forum, Canada Post orchestrated an ambush that was designed to prevent full-time CUPW officers from attending the second Regional Forum at the RDC. Without the courtesy of notification, a team of Canada Post security officers were assembled at the RDC facility and employed goon tactics by physically preventing CUPW officers from entering the building in the face of their legal rights (and previous invitation).

Canada Post also resorted to calling the Richmond RCMP within moments of the arrival of CUPW officers but no arrests were made.

Following the June 26th incident, Canada Post Director Marie Robinson kicked it up a notch by “banning” CUPW’s Regional Grievance Officer from entering any corporate facility in British Columbia and the Yukon for a period of five months.

In her letter of July 9, 2009, Robinson claimed that the ban was imposed based on her perception of “unacceptable behavior” at both the VMPP and RDC forums.

In response to Canada Post’s actions, CUPW filed a National Policy Grievance (N00-07-00025)

Marie Robinson’s Corporate Ideology!

At arbitration, Marie Robinson proved to be Canada Post’s star witness. Robinson, the architect of the illegal ambush, claimed that her strategy was necessary in order to prevent Union officers from speaking at the RDC forum. Robinson offered testimony regarding Canada Post’s Policy of Fairness and Respect, and the Canada Post Code of Conduct, “Living Our Values”. Notwithstanding, Robinson displayed a very different set of ideological values during her cross-examination when she described CUPW’s Regional Officer as a Nazi!

During the hearing, Arbitrator Dulude was provided with the full transcripts and mp3 files of the forums and found nothing inappropriate in the comments that were made during the question and answer period at the June 25th forum. He cited the previous findings of Arbitrator Claude Lauzon, who similarly found nothing offensive about those remarks:

A careful reading of the transcript of what was said at the meeting of June 25, 2009 does not reveal any offensive or un-called for remarks. In listening to the cassette, one can hear that the tone is level-headed and even polite.

Like Arbitrator Lauzon before him, Arbitrator Dulude found no evidence of unacceptable speech or behavior at the June 25th session, at least on behalf of any Union representative.

Bad Faith and Malicious Schemes!

In reviewing the evidence regarding the June 26th forum, Arbitrator Dulude again found nothing inappropriate in the actions, speech, and/or behavior of CUPW representatives despite the physical confrontation that was orchestrated by Canada Post.

Instead, Arbitrator Dulude found the actions of Canada Post to be extremely provocative and illegal.

In his ruling, Arbitrator Dulude found that Canada Post not only violated the Union’s bargaining unit rights by the manner and content of its forums, but by maliciously orchestrating an ambush to prevent CUPW officers from attending the forums and by imposing an unlawful “ban” on an authorized bargaining unit representative.

Arbitrator Dulude also ordered Canada Post to cease holding regional forums with the members of CUPW for the purpose of discussing working conditions and negotiated benefits.

In reviewing the facts of case, Arbitrator Dulude found Canada Post’s actions sufficiently egregious to persuade him to award preventative and punitive damages as a deterrent against similar misconduct in the future:

Finally, given the various unfavourable comments and assessments that I have made in this ruling, as well as the malicious schemes devised and implemented by the senior officials of the Corporation to silence the Union and exercise undue influence on the CUPW members in areas that are exclusively under the jurisdiction of the bargaining unit, there is room here for much more than just a declaratory decision.

Based on the jurisprudence between the parties referred to earlier and on the interpretations they received regarding the scope of their respective rights, I must say the Corporation has so far conducted itself with a great deal of impunity and has clearly demonstrated bad faith. There is therefore an urgent necessity for me to order punitive and preventative damages, strictly for the purpose of firmly deterring such conduct.

In the result, Arbitrator Dulude awarded damages as follows:

The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees everyone the Freedom of Association and the Freedom of Speech. But does it exist at Canada’s largest Crown Corporation? Is Canada Post an importer of third-world labour standards?

The full text of Arbitrator Dulude’s decision will be posted at www.cupwpacific.org upon receipt of the full translation.

In keeping with its practice of appealing arbitration decisions that uphold the Union’s rights, it is expected that Canada Post will attempt to challenge Arbitrator Dulude’s ruling in court.