| REMINDER – REMINDER – REMINDER: RSMCs – On-call relief employees (OCREs) in Major Urban Centres (MUCs) |
06/30/2009 USE OF OCRES IN MUCS In the last round of bargaining, a major improvement was incorporated into Appendix “E” of the RSMC collective agreement concerning the use of on-call relief employees (OCREs) in major urban centres (MUCs). This change requires CPC to use OCREs in major urban centres to cover all RSMC absences that are recognized under the collective agreement. more...
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| Conservative Government’s Gift to Remailers Will Hurt Postal Services |
06/25/2009 The Conservative government has re introduced legislation which will amend the exclusive privilege of Canada Post Corporation and legalize the activities of remailers who have been illegally transporting letters from Canada to the USA for processing. One Recommendation Out of Sixty On May 7, 2009, representatives of CUPW met with Robert Merrifield, Minister Responsible for Canada Post. At that time, he told us that the government intended to take time to review the report and engage in consultations before it comments on the recommendations of the report of the Canada Post Corporation Strategic Review (CPCSR). Instead he has acted unilaterally to introduce legislation to legalize the activities of the remailers. We have written to Minister Merrifield asking to know why the government has acted only on this one recommendation, out of sixty, which was never explained in the CPCSR report. more...
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| CUPW Wins!! |
06/25/2009 The Canadian Union of Postal Workers recently won two awards at the Canadian Association of Labour Media (CALM) conference. We won the best poster award for “Trans Rights are Human Rights”. The CUPW National Human Rights Committee recommended our Union produce posters supporting Trans Rights. Sister Bonnie Luijkenaar, one of our communications specialists, used her artistic talents to produce this wonderful poster. more...
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| International Postal Conference a Big Success |
06/25/2009 We just completed our first ever Modern Post Conference. There were delegates from Korea, Australia, Norway, Belgium, France, the U.K., the USA and UNI, our global union. CUPW members from St John’s, Newfoundland to Victoria, B.C. also participated. It was a big success. We learned we face similar issues despite coming from four different continents. These include: • privatization and deregulation • declining mail volumes • post office closures and consolidations • decreases in staffing levels • increased night shift work • the introduction of new mail processing equipment • sequencing of mail to the line of delivery for letter carrier routes. And we are all fighting back! more...
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| Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement Stopped for Now – Thank You |
06/25/2009 The Free Trade Agreement between Canada and Colombia is stopped for now. The legislation to implement this agreement has not been passed in Parliament. This good news is thanks to the efforts of CUPW members, the entire labour movement and organizations including Amnesty International, Kairos (a faith based organization) and the Council of Canadians. All these organizations opposed signing a free trade agreement for the following reasons... more...
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| Petition to the House of Commons - Remailers and Moratorium on Post Office Closures |
06/25/2009 WHEREAS the federal government is considering ending the current moratorium on post office closures. WHEREAS the federal government has introduced legislation to legalize the activities of remailers, which will erode the revenues of Canada Post Corporation needed to maintain its current Universal Service Obligation. WHEREAS our public post office plays a key role in our social and economic life by providing the infrastructure that healthy communities need to thrive and businesses need to grow. We call on the Government of Canada to maintain the moratorium on post office closures and withdraw the legislation to legalize remailers. We also call upon the Government of Canada to instruct Canada Post to maintain, expand and improve postal services. more...
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| Report to the National Executive Board -- 4th National Vice-President -- June 2009 |
06/23/2009 more...
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| World Social Forum Report – January 27 to February 1, 2009 |
06/22/2009 What is a World Social Forum? I believe that answering this question is key if we want to assess our participation in the most recent WSF, in Belém, and talk about our possible participation in the next WSF and in decentralized social forums. For starters, the WSF is a space. It’s not an international conference, nor a summit, a meeting or a Woodstock for alter-globalists. The World Social Forum is a space made available to participants. The meetings taking place in that space don’t aim, for example, at producing a final declaration to be signed and applied by all participants. On the contrary, the WSF is a space that fosters discussions and the sharing of ideas. All of this turns the Forum into a powerful instrument that allows us to unveil a new work method. In addition, the WSF has brought back an idea that had all but disappeared from our now sad landscape of militancy: utopia! The creation of open spaces and the many exchanges have led to the awakening of many people and to a renewed sense of militancy for many disillusioned individuals. The WSF is born out of an intuition that another world was possible. Eight years later, this statement is more accurate and specific: another world is necessary, possible and urgently needed! more...
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| CUPW Calls on Opposition to Stop Changes to Canada Post Corporation Act |
06/18/2009 For Immediate Release Ottawa – The federal government should concentrate on improving postal services rather than rewarding the international remailers who have been violating the Canada Post Corporation Act. Today the Conservative government announced it would introduce an amendment to remove international letters from Canada Post’s exclusive privilege to deliver letters. The government's amendment would allow international remailers to continue to siphon off Canada Post’s lettermail volumes and revenues, thus eroding the post office’s ability to provide service in remote and rural areas. Canada Post President Moya Greene has estimated that international mailers siphon off between $60 to $80 million dollars per year in business. "In these difficult economic times it makes no sense to unnecessarily jeopardize jobs in Canada Post by exporting this work outside of the country", said Denis Lemelin, National President of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers. more...
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| Householders and Overtime |
06/17/2009 Questions are still coming in to National Office about householders and overtime. It seems that in some locations, Canada Post is still refusing to acknowledge that on some days, householder preparation and delivery may cause letter carriers to work overtime. more...
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| CUPW Hosts International Postal Conference |
06/17/2009 Ottawa – The Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) is hosting an international modern post conference for the next three days in Ottawa. The first of its kind, the conference will bring together front line postal workers from Great Britain, Korea, the United States, Australia, Norway, France and Belgium to talk about the effects of larger scale technological change. “Canada Post is about to spend billions on new technology that will change the way we process and deliver mail,” said CUPW National President Denis Lemelin, “so the timing is perfect for us to come together, share and learn from each others experience.” more...
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| RSMC - Ergo Assistants - A Project to Find a Solution |
06/11/2009 An interim agreement has been reached with Canada Post to establish a special Committee that will attempt to resolve the outstanding issues of ergonomic assistants. The Committee will begin working on June 16 and will continue for a period of 3 weeks... more...
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| CUPW endorses Sister Micki McCune for Representative of All Active Members – Canada Post Pension Plan |
05/28/2009 The National Executive Board of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers has endorsed Sister Micki McCune to be the Representative of All Active Members of the Canada Post Pension Plan. Sister McCune has held this position for two terms. She has done an excellent job on the Pension Advisory Council, voicing member concerns about the Canada Post Pension Plan. The voting period is July 16th to Aug. 13th, 2009. more...
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| RSMC – Paid Personal Leave Days – Clause 19.04 |
05/27/2009 Paid Personal Leave Days – New Right During the last round of negotiations the Union negotiated a new type of paid leave for RSMC. For CUPW, this type of paid leave is a precedent as this right does not exist in the urban unit’s collective agreement. Paid Personal Leave Days - Existing Employees As of January 1st, 2009, all employees shall be entitled to two (2) days of paid personal leave for each calendar year. Paid Personal Leave Days - New Employees A new employee hired on or before September 1st shall receive one (1) day of paid personal leave in his or her year of hire. An employee hired after September 1st shall not be entitled to paid personal leave days in that calendar year. more...
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| RSMC - Seniority and Continuous Service |
05/21/2009 SENIORITY: AN IMPORTANT UNION RIGHT Generally seniority shall be used to accommodate employees’ preferences where the collective agreement so provides. Over the years, workers have defined rights and rules for the use seniority that have been incorporated into their collective agreements. We all accumulate seniority every day. Seniority is a fair and equitable right that prevents an employer from arbitrarily deciding who will benefit from the application of certain work entitlements. more...
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