Canada Post Slashes Commercial Counter at Bentall

Canada Post cut the Commercial Counter at Bentall Centre in February. A recent retirement opened this Position for coverage, but rather than filling the vacancy, management chose to delete the Position.

The Union met to consult in an attempt to review the options for Bentall. The employees from this retail outlet came forward with ideas that would have kept the commercial counter covered by redistributing the duties of the existing staff. Management didn’t find any use for their input, and were unmoved by the list of complaints from customers that use the services of the commercial counter.

As Bentall is in the center of corporate Vancouver, many of the complaints come from major Canadian corporations. Some of their comments were:

“It worries me the lack of regard you have for your commercial customers.”
“Please don’t close this window it truly affects our businesses.”
“…sad news. It’s convenience…this business counter, the staff are all very helpful and friendly. Hope the upper management will reconsider again.”
“This counter has been very helpful when my company comes in with loads of Registered mail…”
“We need the commercial counter for the speedy processing of our mails which are usually in bulk. Please keep the counter open.”
“Please be respectful of your commercial customers who have different needs and provide you with so much business.”
“The closure of commercial desk is of great concern to me, my staff and other users of this facility. We have schedules and timelines that must be met to facilitate the needs of our clients. The commercial desk is vital to ensure the speedy process of documentation and post. We need the desk!”

It may be that there is more to the agenda of Canada Post than cost savings when they make decisions that seriously impact the businesses they claim to be serving. A proposition like cutting out the commercial counter service is defective because it leads to customer dissatisfaction and to employee dissatisfaction. Despite the protestations of the corporate community, as well as those of the employees at Bentall who are concerned about service to their regular customers, Canada Post is moving in a different direction. Canada Post does not want to continue providing a necessary service at its busiest corporate outlet in the region, where they served 117,000 customers last year.

Strange Times ~ c.t.i.

During these times of economic uncertainty©® (or current economic downturn or recession or present economic instability or downward market trend…) we see workers and Unions being targeted, while the greedy fight for their piece of the ever shrinking pie. Here at Canada Post, CUPW members have a strong Collective Agreement protecting us, as long as we protect it. We have the ominous dark cloud of Modern Post hanging over our heads. We have Canada Post applying for a pension contribution holiday. Temporary workers have seen layoffs for the first time ever. We see vacant positions abolished at an alarming pace. It is an uncertain future we face.

In the middle of all this, we get CTI bonuses, almost double what we received last year. It seems odd: in a year where we have to chop 250 million dollars from the operating budget to avoid going into the red, we have exceeded our targets? We are now hearing city-wide overtime calls on a daily basis in letter carrier depots, and everything is peachy? External Temps are now sitting at home waiting for a phone call, starting routes an hour or more late and thus delaying mail to the customer on a regular basis and all is right?

There are approximately 22 months and counting until our current collective agreement expires. It seems like a long time, but we will be bargaining our next Collective Agreement before you know it. We have new leadership in Ottawa thanks to the delegates of the last convention and to those who voted for them. Our negotiators will be preparing for the fight of their lives when it comes to this round of bargaining.

If you have not yet decided what to do with your CTI cheque, you may want to consider putting the money from Moya into the bank, to be used against her come February 2011.

Supervisors Cookin’ The Books

Although it has been difficult getting leave granted lately, there have been some employees who were granted Comp Time (compensatory time), only to find out that after the fact, a supervisor had changed the leave to LWOP (leave without pay). The banked time was paid out and then the employee was recorded on LWOP. Comp Time is pensionable, but Leave Without Pay is not pensionable time.

It is a fraudulent act when any supervisor changes your leave without your consent. Check your paystub to be sure the leave you were on was the leave that was recorded. If it was changed without your knowledge, file a grievance.

Pension Consultations

The public consultations on our pensions have been making the rounds on a quick cross country tour. The Department of Finance Pension Consultations has been sent on tour to open up the funding debate on Canada Post pensions, as well as others. According to the chairperson – Ted Menzies, Parliamentary Secretary – there is still an opportunity to state your opinion. Submissions may be sent to:

Diane Lafleur
Financial Sector Policy Branch
Department of Finance
L’Esplanade Laurier
20th Floor, East Tower
140 O’Connor Street
Ottawa, Canada K1A 0G5

Alternately, you may send an E-Mail to [email protected]

Suggestions for your letter:

Don’t use my Pension funds for shoring up poor planning by Canada Post
Ensure proper funding continues ~ mandatory contributions must remain
Canada Post must act responsibly to us ~ we are it’s stakeholders
Put a system in place for the future ~ make our Pension Board accountable
Protect our Defined Benefits Plan ~ provide insurance
No more holidays from paying into our Pension!

Moya Greene decided in August 2007 that because our CPC Pension Plan had fully funded status, that regular employee contributions would not be required through the remainder of 2007. Ms. Greene felt this “…will in no way impact the overall financial strength of the Plan”. This initiative was never discussed beforehand with any of the bargaining agent representatives at the CPC Pension Advisory Council.

Within days of Ms. Greene’s announcement, significant market disruptions were happening in response to concerns over the sub-prime mortgages in the U.S. Concerns were raised again by bargaining agents about the potential implications for pension funding. Unmoved, Canada Post maintained the employer contribution holiday throughout the economic and financial turmoil during the first 10 months of 2008.

Contributions were resumed only after persistent objections of the bargaining agents represented on the CPC Pension Advisory Council. As of February 2009, there is a solvency deficiency of approximately $2.3 billion in the Canada Post Corporation Registered Pension Plan.

Right to Complain

History tells us that in times of unemployment the strength of labour is threatened. Rights that were fought for in better times come under attack as employers seek to reassert their right to manage.

In the present economic climate, there is a pro-business flexibility agenda that translates as reductions in job quality.

Stay involved. Let management know what you think. Let’s not let them wreck the Post Office.