Canada Post Corporation Takes Several Steps Backwards and Two Steps Forward

Steps Backwards

Today, after reviewing our June 3^rd proposals for three days, CPC totally rejected our offer. They made virtually no effort to bring the parties closer together, and in fact, reneged on several of their previous proposals with respect to staffing.

Pensions

CPC rejected our proposal for 50-50 current service pension contributions. They say they believe it is not possible due to the law. However, they did not say if they were prepared to jointly approach the government to change the legislation, should the parties reach agreement on the issue.

Staffing

CPC has withdrawn their offers to create full-time positions when a part-time employee works 900 hours during a 30-week period, and to create a part-time regular position when a temporary employee works 1,000 hours during twelve months.

Short-Term Disability Plan

The employer finally provided language on their proposal for compulsory arbitration concerning the Short-Term Disability Plan. Their proposed contract language, confirms that the plan is not designed to protect employees from insufficient sick leave credits, but instead is designed to “reduce the rate of casual and certified sick leave and special leave.”

The language also ensures that the government-appointed arbitrator would have little choice but to impose their program.

Steps Forward

The employer did make a few positive moves in their recent offer, as follows:

Householder Mail

When collation of admail is performed by another employee or a machine, the time values for the preparation of that volume of admail, will be limited to the time required to prepare the collated bundles for delivery, provided the non-collated admail amounts to more than three sets a week. When the outside impact of admail exceeds 16 minutes, the exceeding time will be added to the calculation of the evaluated time of the walk.

Financial Services Study

CPC provided language on the Financial Services study to be conducted jointly by the parties under Appendix T.

The Union will examine CPC’s proposals and develop its response.

In solidarity,

Denis Lemelin
National President and Chief Negotiator 

Brigette Marcelle speaks for Canadian Youth

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Friday, June 3, 2011

Senate Page disrupts throne speech Harper's disastrous agenda needs to be stopped with creative action and civil disobedience

Ottawa -- During the reading of Prime Minister Stephen Harper's throne speech today, a young page was yanked from the Senate Chamber as she tried to hold up a stop-sign placard reading "Stop Harper."

"Harper's agenda is disastrous for this country and for my generation," Brigette Marcelle says. "We have to stop him from wasting billions on fighter jets, military bases, and corporate tax cuts while cutting social programs and destroying the climate. Most people in this country know what we need are green jobs, better medicare, and a healthy environment for future generations."

Brigette Marcelle (aka Brigette DePape), 21 and a recent graduate from University of Ottawa, has been a page in the Senate for a year, but realized that working within parliament wouldn't stop Harper's agenda.

"Contrary to Harper's rhetoric, Conservative values are not in fact Canadian values. How could they be when 3 out of 4 eligible voters didn't even give their support to the Conservatives? But we will only be able to stop Harper's agenda if people of all ages and from all walks of life engage in creative actions and civil disobediance," she says.

"This country needs a Canadian version of an Arab Spring, a flowering of popular movements that demonstrate that real power to change things lies not with Harper but in the hands of the people, when we act together in our streets, neighbourhoods and workplaces."

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