Thursday October 19 2017

As per Arbitrator Flynn’s order, the Pay Equity Consultants have submitted their reports on October 16th.
Paul Durber, the CUPW consultant, has concluded that the work of an RSMC is of equal value to that of the male comparators and that RSMCs (Zone 1) receive direct wages which range from 24% less than letter carriers to 27% less than Mail Service Couriers – Heavy Vehicle. Durber also analyzed the differences that exist due to the additional benefits received by the male comparators.

Wages

The CPC Consultant, Sandra Haydon, has agreed that the work of an RSMC is of equal value to that of letter carriers. She has based her analysis solely on a cost comparison between letter carriers and RSMCs of delivery to points of call on routes with at least 75% of CMB points of call.  She concludes that on a point of call comparison RSMCs are actually paid $0.04 more per point of call than letter carriers.

Benefits

Haydon also analyzed some of the differences that exist due to the additional benefits received by the male comparators and places the value at $10.2 million for the entire population of more than 8,000 RSMCs.

CPC’s Report is Fundamentally Flawed

The CPC consultant’s report is fundamentally flawed as it fails to consider all aspects of the work of employees as required by the Canadian Human Rights Act and the Equal Wage Guidelines. Significant problems include:
It does not recognize the greater distance travelled by RSMCs;
It does not recognize the impact of sequencing reducing sortation time for letter carriers;
It only compared 942 letter carrier routes, less than 8% of the total;
It includes the vehicle allowance as income without recognizing the costs;
It totally ignores the compensation comparison between RSMCs and the other male comparators (MSCs, MSCs-Heavy Vehicle, Letter Carrier Assistants, Mail Despatchers);
It does not include several important benefits such as pre-retirement leave, overtime pay, birth and adoption leave, marriage leave.

The Next Steps

According to the Memorandum of Understanding, CUPW and CPC will now enter into negotiations over the next couple of months, to see if we can come to an agreement. Arbitrator Flynn has offered October 30th, November 20th, the afternoon of December 6th and December 18th to mediate any disputes we may have during the negotiation phase.
If the parties cannot agree on all or some aspects of the issues in dispute, we will go to arbitration in front of Arbitrator Flynn. The hearing dates for arbitration are:

January 9, 10, 11, 12, 19, 26 / 2018
February 19, 20, 21, 23 / 2018

Barring exceptional circumstances, Arbitrator Flynn anticipates to have her decision completed by March 31st.

Keep Informed

As we progress we will keep you updated, so watch for our bulletins or sign up for e-digest.

In Solidarity!

Members of the Pay Equity Committee,

Nancy Beauchamp, Barb McMillan and Cathy Kennedy