Recently our membership has been subjected to an onslaught of discipline regarding plant safety rules.
We all are concerned about our health and safety and strive every day to work in a way that is sustainable and not detrimental to our safety. However, when we see the Corporation disregarding our rotation of duties on a daily basis, when Canada Post constantly operates without a full compliment of employees thereby overburdening people, when we see daily demands being placed on our bodies that will lead to injury, we obviously will feel that the Corporation does not truly care about our health and safety.
- We want to work in an environment that fits what the stated goals of Canada Post are, a workplace that shows respect for our health, safety and physical well-being.
- We want to work on a work floor where we respect each other as colleagues and treat each other as we would like to be treated.
- We want to be involved in processes that build on these shared values and stated goals. What we don’t want is to be harassed and bullied into doing things that we feel are damaging to our health and safety.
- We do not want to be treated without due respect and understanding of our struggles.
- We do not want to be subjected to unnecessary discipline with the subsequent loss of income as well as loss of working people on the floor which in turn will lead to more overburdening.
- We want to work without fear of being singled out for discipline when others are respectfully coached.
- We want to work where no one is above the law, where everyone is treated equally. To this end we are encouraging all of our membership to make sure to follow the words of the Canada Post Code of Conduct regarding supervisors, superintendents, managers and directors breaching plant safety rules.
“Your supervisor is wrong to ignore the safety rule. Safety rules have been developed to protect people from being injured. If you feel comfortable, remind your team leader of the safety rule and of the importance of following it. Alternatively, report your concern to your local safety representative (L.J.H.S.C.). As a Canada Post employee, you are responsible for your own safety and for the safety of your coworkers. Taking the appropriate action could prevent you or someone else from being injured”
We encourage you to do so in a respectful manner so as to model positive behavior and show management how to coach and to treat people with respect. If there is no official response from the Corporation when reporting breaches of the plant safety rules by management then please report this to a shop steward and we can escalate this through official channels.
Health and safety matters to us as workers because it is our bodies and minds that will be affected when the Corporation ignores important aspects of our company policies and procedures. Management looks at this problem from the perspective of numbers and data, we see it through the lens of our own bodies and minds.
In Solidarity,
Allan Dobbs, Grievance Officer