In these negotiations CUPW is working very hard to gain full equality for Rural and Suburban Mail Carriers (RSMCs). Even though there are no RSMCs in the Vancouver Local, this is an important fight that we all need to support.
RSMC work is not very different than letter carrier work
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- RSMCs have routes, sort mail, and they deliver mail and parcels. In some stations, the only way to tell letter carriers and RSMCs apart is that their uniforms are different, they use their own vehicles to deliver the mail and they get paid less.
- Supporting RSMCs is saying this is wrong.
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We want to avoid long and costly court battles to get fairness for RSMCs
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- It took our sister union — the Public Service Alliance of Canada over 30 years and millions of dollars of legal fees to obtain pay equity for clerical and administration staff at Canada Post.
- That is too much time to wait for justice.
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It is about solidarity
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- Over the years, CUPW has bargained to get improvements for groups of people who were treated unfairly by Canada Post. This includes fighting for paid maternity leave, negotiating to make sure temporary workers were hired by seniority (instead of the supervisors picking and choosing), and fighting to protect our pensions
- Working for RSMC equality is one more fight.
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It is about fairness
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- RSMCs do the same work as letter carriers but earn less pay and have less rights and benefits. For instance they have lower wages, less vacation leave, no pay for working overtime, and fewer health and safety protections. And even though they deliver, they have no route measurement system.
- That is not fair.
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It is about stopping the race to the bottom
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- If RSMCs earn less money and have less benefits than letter carriers, it gives Canada Post an incentive to reduce our wages and benefits. Canada Post will argue that they can get the job done for less money.
- It is about protecting our wages and benefits.
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It is about equality
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- Over 66% of RSMCs are women. They earn less than letter carriers. But, they have the same expenses for shelter, food etc.
- We need to support equality for women.
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RSMCs deserve justice. In this round of bargaining lets make sure that this happens!!!!
In Solidarity,
Jennifer Savage
President
ck/CUPE-3338
