Bargaining Update

Thursday January 25 2024

During the week of January 15, the RSMC and Urban Negotiators met with Canada Post several times to continue bargaining.

Public Post Office Under Attack

At the Urban table, Canada Post launched an attack on the public post office. Claiming it needed more “flexibility” to better serve customers, the Corporation proposed eliminating the protection of 493 retail counters under Appendix “I”. Deleting this would allow the Corporation to close more than a quarter of the post offices staffed by CUPW members.

The Corporation’s proposal would do nothing to serve customers. We need to focus on service expansion projects like postal banking to keep our post offices financially viable and ensure good, full-time jobs stay in our communities.

Separate Sort and Delivery

On the Union side, the Negotiators sent a strong message that the Corporation put an end to its unacceptable Separate Sort and Delivery project. We showed the Corporation’s excessive reliance on routers to sort mail goes against the LCRMS. We spoke about the many negative emotional and physical impacts SSD has on carriers. Increased duties and growing workloads are leaving carriers with more aches and pains, more fatigue, more stress, and less enjoyment in the job.

Temporary Workers

The Negotiators brought forward several demands to improve the rights and benefits of temporary workers, including OCREs. It is time Canada Post recognize the value temporary workers bring to the Corporation.

We demanded temporary workers have access to more of the entitlements regular employees enjoy, including: an easier progression up the wage chart, health benefits, leaves, COLA, Union representation before the end of probation, and the right to be accommodated under Urban Article 54.

RSMC Time Values

At the RSMC table, the Negotiators continued their discussions about time values. This has been the main focus for RSMCs during Negotiations thus far. Issues outstanding from the Hourly Rate Committee have carried over into bargaining.

As discussions continue to move RSMCs from a pay system based on points of call and kilometres driven to an hourly rate, establishing safe work methods based on accurate time values is crucial to ensuring RSMCs are properly compensated.

The Negotiators have made three types of proposals. In cases where RSMC work is identical to Urban letter carrier work, the Urban time value should apply. In cases where RSMC work is similar to Urban work, a modified Urban time value should apply. Finally, in cases where the work is unique to RSMCs, a new time value should be developed.

While both sides have moved on some proposed values, there remains a lot of work to do.