The Settlement versus CPC’s July 19th Position

The terms of the current settlement include several negative changes.

So why is the National Executive Board recommending that the members vote yes? It’s plain: we believe the settlement is vastly superior to what we could expect to come out of the Final Offer Selection arbitration process. We believe Canada Post’s final offer would resemble what they proposed on July 19, 2011 — or worse. Let’s compare them:

 

Current Settlement		CPC’s July 19, 2012 Proposal
Pension (current employees)
No change in pension for current employees.		Change in the early retirement provisions for all future service for current employees.
Continues as a defined benefit plan with early retirement at 55 years of age and 30 years of service.		Future service to provide penalty for retiring before 60 years of age and 30 years of service.
Maintain full indexing.		Many employees would have to work additional years to obtain unreduced pension.
Pension (future employees)
A defined benefit pension plan with no penalty at 60 years of age and 30 years of service. Fully indexed.		A defined contribution pension plan with no guarantee of pension payout.
Members can calculate their benefits.		Employer to contribute 3.0 – 6.0%.
Retail Counters
Must keep 493 retail postal counters open.		CPC to have the right to close all retail postal counters staffed by CUPW members.
Post-Retirement Benefits
Maintain current EHCP benefit plan but increase employee share of the premiums to 35%.		Replace post-retirement benefit plan with health care spending account.
Contracting Out of Video Encoding Systems
No contracting out.		CPC to have the right to contract out.
Vacation Leave (employees hired after January 31, 2011)
No change: 4 weeks after 7 years, 5 weeks after 14 years, 6 weeks after 21 years, and 7 weeks after 28 years.		Reduced benefits: 4 weeks after 10 years, 5 weeks after 18 years, 6 weeks after 28 years, and no provision for 7 weeks.
Paid Meal Period (future employees)
Paid meal period.		No paid meal period. Paid for 37.5 hours per week.
Job Security (Current Employees)
Employees hired before or on the date of signing of the collective agreement to have full job security and 40 kilometre protection.		Employees hired after the January 31, 2011 to have no job security until 5 years of service and 40 kilometre protection after 10 years of service.
Job Security (New Employees)
Employees hired after the date of signing to have nationwide job security and 40 kilometre protection after 5 years of service.		Employees hired after the date of signing to have no job security until 5 years of service and 40 kilometre protection after 10 years of service.
Wages (New Employees)
$19.00 starting rate.		$17.50 starting rate.
Wash-up Time
Elimination of one wash-up time at the end of shift.		Elimination of both five-minute wash-up times.

 

The Heavily Biased Mandate of the Arbitrator

In Final Offer Selection arbitration each side submits an offer to the arbitrator. The arbitrator must choose one or the other in its entirety — all or nothing. The arbitrator has no power to compromise on any issue.

When appointed, the arbitrator must agree to be bound by the mandate which was included in Bill C-6, the back-to-work legislation. Both the CUPW and the opposition parties strongly criticized the mandate as being very heavily biased in favour of the employer. What did we mean by that?

Considering a) the very large deficit of the pension plan, b) the fact that CPC is losing money again this year, c) the fact that volumes are dropping, and d) that the terms and conditions previously negotiated by CUPW are very favourable when compared to other postal and courier companies, we conclude that the mandate of the arbitrator is very heavily weighted against the union.

On top of this, the arbitrator would be one appointed by Conservative Labour Minister Lisa Raitt.

Thus we believe that the arbitrator would be bound to impose provisions much worse than the settlement you are being asked to ratify.

Here are the terms of the mandate — judge for yourself:

These are very special circumstances with great future consequences for refusing or adopting this tentative agreement. Because of all of this, the NEB believed the settlement must be put to a membership vote. It is your right to decide.

The struggle continues.