Over the years, the Union’s top priority has been and continues to be to ensure that temporary employees have access to regular employment and that these employees, as well as part-time employees, have access to regular full-time positions. This not only ensures that they can move up the salary ladder based on their length of service as regular employees, but also gives them full rights to all benefits including, the extended health care plan and the defined benefit pension plan, to name a few.
CONVERSION OF PART-TIME HOURS
The collective agreement already had provisions which provides for part-time employees to be used only for part-time operational requirements and that wherever practicable, such positions shall be combined in order to create full-time positions. This continues to apply to Groups 1 and 2 of the urban unit.
CONVERSION OF TEMPORARY HOURS IN GROUP 1 NEW PROVISION The arbitrator imposed a new provision applicable to Group 1 stipulating that temporary employees are to be used only for temporary operational requirements and wherever practicable, such work shall be combined in order to create regular positions.
This will allow the Union to analyze the usage of temporary employees’ hours and argue that these hours be converted into much needed, regular full-time or part-time jobs, as the case may be.
This will also allow the use of temporary and part-time hours to create regular full-time jobs.
THE FULL-TIME NATIONAL RATIO GROUP 1 The new provision will apply even if the national ratio of 78% full-time hours is achieved. The arbitrator rejected Canada Post’s request to reduce this ratio to 75%, which would have reduced the number of regular full-time positions nationwide by approximately 400.
THE WORK AHEAD
As you can see, we have a lot of work to do to ensure that Canada Post converts the hours worked by temporary employees to regular jobs when justified.
The fight for decent rather than precarious jobs must continue.