CUPW Vancouver

Working at Canada Post many CUPW members will suffer from a Repetitive strain injury (RSI). Repetitive Strain

injuries is described as a painful condition that affects many areas of the body. Muscles, tendons, joints and nerves in the neck, chest, shoulders, arms and hands and the back.

The nature of our Job at Canada Post requires the continuous repetition of movements that are a major contributing factor of Reparative Strain Injuries. Pushing, pulling, gripping, holding, lifting, reaching and twisting as well as awkward body postures and also fixed body positions increase the risk.

*Canadian Center for Occupational Health and safety (CCOHS)

What are the Symptoms?

• PAIN!
• Joint stiffness
• Muscle tightness
• Redness and swelling of the area
• Numbness or pins and needles
• Skin colour changes and decreased sweating of the hands

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Nominations have now closed for the following positions on the Local.

 Executive Committee:

1^st Vice President

Joseph Henderson McCance

Jamie McCurrach

Secretary Treasurer

Kevin Biggs

Enrique Silvano

Health & Safety Director

Adrian Chow

Robyn Mann

John Tweed

Executive Shop Steward Internal PPC/Wickets Shift 2

Neerja Bhatara

Sukhwinder (Tony) Phunal

                                                      Nominated and Acclaimed

                                                              Part Time Officers:

3^rd Vice President

Bryan Schuck

Table officers:

Education Director

Michael Seney

Organizing Director

Kat Poch

Executive Shop Steward Internal PPC/PIFF/Wickets Shift 3

Helen De Guzman

Executive Shop Steward External LC (2 positions)

Martin Kosik

Lisa Quattrocchi

 Executive Shop Steward External MSC

Surinder Kumar

The schedule for the 2024 annual election will be presented in a future bulletin. Congratulations to those acclaimed to a position and good luck to those nominated.

In Solidarity, 

Anju Parmar, President

 

Josiah Henson

Josiah Henson, spiritual leader and author, was born into enslavement in Maryland, USA. He escaped to Dresden, Upper Canada and founded The Dawn Settlement – a place for enslavement refugees to obtain self-sufficiency. In 1842, he purchased 200 acres of land and opened the British-American Institute, one of Canada’s first trade-labour schools.

Sleeping Car Porters | Africville Genealogical Society

Labour unions originally barred Black workers from taking membership, therefore they created their own. In 1917, John A. Robinson, J.W. Barber, B.F. Jones and P. White, Black porters based in Winnipeg, formed the Order of Sleeping Car Porters (OSCP), the first Black railway union in North America.

Canadian Brotherhood of Railway Employees

In 1919, the Order of Sleeping Car Porters, Canada’s first Black labour union, joined the Canadian Brotherhood of Railway Employees (CBRE), forcing them to remove the “Whites-only” clause from its constitution

Carrie Best

Carrie Best was co-founder of The Clarion, one of the first newspapers in Canada to be owned and published by Black Canadians. She was an avid human rights activist and used her newspaper to speak out about Black rights. In 1941, her and son James Calbert Best (who would later help found PSAC) purchased a ticket at the Roseland Theatre and would sit in the “whites only” section in protest. When they were asked to leave and refused, police were called and she was charged with disturbing the peace. She would take legal action against the theatre and later on would use The Clarion to help publicize the same treatment given to Viola Desmond 5 years later.

Stanley Grizzle

In the 1940s, labour activist Stanley Grizzle, a local president of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, fought for the right for porters to have name cards so white passengers would stop calling the mainly Black porters “George” or “boy”. He also pushed the Canadian Pacific Railway to open management ranks to Black workers. Grizzle went on to become a public service worker, politician, citizenship judge, and recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal, who fought against anti-Black racism

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Our Contract has expired on January 31^st, 2024. While CUPW is attempting to negotiate a new one and hoping the employer will come to the table in a good faith, there are never any guarantees. We all know this round of negotiations will not be easy and we all need to take part in one way or other. While our experienced negotiation committee will be working hard on the behalf of the membership, members should be looking at their savings in preparation of possible strike.

There are some other things that can be done to help ensure that we get decent Collective Agreement:

-Let management know that you want this round settled with a fair contract negotiated in good faith.

-Take an interest in the progress of negotiations. You can see the latest information on both the National and Local websites.

-Come to the meetings and stay informed.

-Volunteer for one of the multitude of tasks that has to be done to prepare for a possible strike.

-Plan a black T Shirt day.

-Plan a potluck in your section or station and have a conversation among members about strike preparation while enjoying the meal.

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Thursday February 22^nd at 7pm

Italian Cultural Centre

3075 Slocan Street, Vancouver BC

AGENDA FOR THE February GMM:

1. Land Acknowledgment
2. Reading of Truth and Reconciliation: Calls to Action
3. Reading of new members
4. Reading of the previous meeting’s minutes
5. Business arising out of the minutes
6. Financials
7. New Business
8. Nominations and elections:
   1. Balloting committee (1)
   2. Regional delegates Alternates (10)
9. Executive Committee Motions
10. Unfinished business
11. Correspondence
12. Executive and Committee Reports
13. Good and Welfare
14. Adjournment 

***ASL Interpreters have been confirmed for this meeting***

In Solidarity 

Anju Parmar, President

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“What is the cost of lies? It’s not that we’ll mistake them for the truth. The real danger is that if we hear enough lies, then we no longer recognize the truth at all.”               -Valery Legasov

Much like my favorite soap operas, Canada Posts seems to recycle the same story lines over and over again.   Instead of having a surprise twin sister, like in my stories, Canada Post is back to “the union agreed to this”.  I can definitively say, in my 14 years with the Corps this has happened less times than I have fingers.  There is not a lot that we agree on.  An example would be the infamous breaks on shift 3.  Except for the dark days of COVID 19, when it was health and safety related, the Local has NEVER agreed to split breaks.  In fact, we have been trying to fight them from day 1 of the conception of the PPC.  We have also NEVER agreed to the 21:00 break in ground.  We have filed numerous grievances and will continue to, unless Canada Post can produce the “binding arbitration” ruling they claim to have.

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It seems that, although CPC has mistaken CUPW members as traditional vampires, it looks like CPC management are Energy Vampires!  Energy Vampires are the most dangerous of all vampires.  They thrive on sucking the energy out anyone around them, regardless the cost. They also derive pleasure and sustenance from creating conflict around them.

Incidents we have seen of these are supervisors calling out our members on the floor for not “pulling their weight”.  In one case we had the Energy draining supervisors telling some members on the floor that other members thought they were lazy.  Of course, this is a ploy Energy Vampires use to help divide us and gain power through our conflict.

We also see these Energy Vampires on the Collections and Delivery side.  Separate Sort from Delivery is a prime example! We often hear management telling us that those who have converted to SSD love it.  This is done to divide us and push through their agenda.  We all know SSD has a negative effect on all of us, and to try to sell it as anything other brings a rise out of us for them to feed off of. If carriers love SSD so much, wouldn’t they be transferring in to SSD depots instead of out?

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