IKEA CATALOGUE UPDATE
October 30, 2013
Today Canada Post Management issued an unsigned notice titled “Lost business from IKEA”. The three Lower Mainland CUPW locals would like to clarify the abundance of misinformation contained in this notice.
First and most importantly, this was a major victory for our union which consists of each and every CUPW member across Canada. We stood up for the health and safety of our members by not allowing Canada Post to force us to deliver these heavy catalogues during the unpredictable weather at the end of October. We also stood up for our Collective Agreement rights which require an agreement between the parties to deliver oversized and/or overweight householder mail. Finally we stood up for the rights of all unionized workers in Canada by sending a message to IKEA and other Corporations run by greed, that workers deserve decent wages and benefits and shouldn’t be forced to accept concessions either by lockout, refusal to negotiate or by legislation (remember 2011).
Why was this first and foremost a health and safety issue?
The original national memorandum which was signed in June 2013 stipulated very clearly that these catalogues were supposed to be delivered in August. In August the mail is lighter and the weather is nicer than in October. We also had five restructures implementing in the three locals during the week that Canada Post wanted us to deliver these catalogues. We all know how bad the recent restructures have been with the loss of up to 34% of the positions (Depot 74), major overburdening issues and the loss of many Relay Boxes. This was not a suitable time to even consider delivering these catalogues.
Why was the memorandum no longer valid?
In the notice that CPC put out they claim “We attempted to secure the commitment of the members of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers through local and regional leadership to deliver these items.” The three locals took the position that the terms of delivery were clearly stipulated in the memorandum and if Canada Post wanted to change those terms then the memorandum would have to be renegotiated. The Union requested an updated proposal from Canada Post on numerous occasions and all that was sent was the August (expired) memorandum. Is this attempting to secure a commitment? We think not.
The rest of this notice is just more regurgitation of the message that Canada Post has been spewing to Canadians over the past several months. The gloom and doom financial picture and the reputation of Canada Post with their customers. The reason that customers are doubting Canada Post’s reputation as a trusted delivery option is not because the Canadian Union of Postal Workers stood up for the rights of our members but because of bad management decisions, the inability to run the operation and the negative messaging that they continue to spend millions of dollars on distributing.
We are the ones that process and deliver the millions of pieces of mail to Canadians every day and we are the ones that sacrifice our bodies to serve the Canadian public. We are the reason that Canada Post has a good reputation with all Canadians and we are the ones suggesting positive and viable alternatives to help Canada Post stay profitable in the future. WE are NOT to blame for Canada Post’s failures.
| Kim Evans President Vancouver |
Kerisma Vere President Royal City |
Stephen Gale |