Posted on by CUPW Vancouver

Meetings with Canada Post – VMPPS Group 1 Staffing

CUPW representatives from the National and Regional offices, along with Vancouver Local Executive and Modern Post committee members, participated in meetings with Canada Post management this week to discuss Postal Transformation (PT). These meetings are being held in accordance with Article 29 of the Collective Agreement, and as such take the form of negotiations as opposed to consultation. The main distinction between the two is that the parties may negotiate changes to the Collective Agreement in order to eliminate any adverse effects upon our members that may be created as a result of Canada Post’s PT initiative.

On July 23rd, Canada Post provided the Union with its proposal for staffing at the new Pacific Processing Centre (PPC). It is important to note that this proposal has not been agreed to by the Union. We are currently evaluating the staffing profiles and are seeking input from our membership before discussions with management continue.  One example of Canada Post’s proposal that may stand out to you, is their creation of a #3 shift PO5 ‘section’ in Parcels and Packets – the work they envision these PO5s performing would be the same as the part-time PO4s on this shift and the full-time PO4s on the other two shifts.  Canada Post is issuing an Information Book Notice that explains its proposal in more detail.  The Union has reserved the right to counter this proposal.

In order for the Union to develop its proposal for bidding, we are also seeking feedback from VMPP and VPDC members who will be required to bid into the PPC.  In very general terms:

  1.  This bid could be open, along the lines of the monthly bid process that exists now, where all of the positions in the various sections would be open for bidding.
    OR,
  2.  Another option would be to bid by section, where possible. Some sections have had limited changes made to them, while others have changed substantially. Bidding in this case could be open for those sections that have changed and closed (i.e. bid within the section as with the annual shift bid) for those sections that are substantially the same.

More details will be provided at meetings with shop stewards and members on the work-floor over the coming weeks.  There will be a joint VMPP and VPDC Shop Steward’s meeting with the Vancouver Local Executive Committee held next Wednesday, July 31, 2013, at 3:00 p.m.  Due to the hours that this meeting is being held, some #1 shift stewards may not be able to attend; for this reason Union representatives will be meeting early Wednesday morning with the #1 shift Shop Stewards at both the VMPP and VPDC.

Please note that information can be obtained by attending the Vancouver Local’s monthly General Membership Meetings. Further details can also be found on the Local website or Union bulletin boards. The upcoming meetings are:

  • Sunday, July 28th at 1:00 p.m. at the Bonsor Recreation Centre in Burnaby (note: there will be a free BBQ social prior to this meeting starting at 11:00 a.m.).
  • Thursday, August 22nd at 7:00 pm at the Trout Lake Community Centre in Vancouver.

If you have any PT related questions or concerns that you would like to bring to our attention, please contact your shop steward or Modern Post committee member.  Please feel free to contact the committee at [email protected] or leave a message for the committee with our staff at the Union Hall.

In Solidarity,
Kim Evans
President