Please download and print this sign from here and then put it on your door, window or mailbox as an expression of your solidarity with CUPW.
The Council of Canadians expresses its solidarity with the 50,000 workers represented by the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) who received a lockout notice from Canada Post today.
The Toronto Star reports, “Canada Post workers are bracing to hit the picket lines as early as Friday [July 8] after the corporation issued a 72-hour lockout notice on Tuesday [July 5]. ‘[Canada Post] refused to negotiate fairly with us and now they’re locking the doors and will try to starve us into submission’, CUPW president Mike Palecek told a news conference in Ottawa… ‘Our goal is to continue service to the public’, Palecek said.”
In terms of the issues:
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Pay equity – The Toronto Star notes, “Palecek said the union’s key issue is that the corporation has refused to pay female rural workers the same as their male, urban counterparts. ‘They’re paid 28 per cent less for doing exactly the same work’, Palecek said. ‘Canada Post needs to follow the law and pay women equally.'” -
Pensions – Radio Canada explains, “Canada Post wants to change the pension plan for newly hired workers to a defined contribution plan, different from the current one defined benefit plan which guarantees a reliable payout every month.” -
Door-to-door delivery – The Canadian Press reports, “The union is also demanding the return of door-to-door mail delivery, which started to be phased out last year. Canadians elected a government that promised to save door-to-door delivery, said Palecek, and that’s what the Liberals should do.”
Radio Canada adds, “The union says it has been offering proposals to make the mail service even more profitable with improved service for business and the public. Union reps add they want to continue negotiating and would not file their strike notice.” In a media release, Palecek says, “We will not be bullied by a corporation that is supposed to be providing people with public service, that is raking in millions in profits every year, and that is willfully and needlessly waging war upon tens of thousands of workers and their families.”
CBC notes, “The current Liberal government said Tuesday it has no plans to intervene at this time.”
The Council of Canadians opposed the Harper government’s plan to end door-to-door mail delivery to five million households over a five year period. We call on the Trudeau government to keep its promise to “stop Stephen Harper’s plan to end door-to-door mail delivery” and fully restore home delivery. We have also supported the call for postal banking which would provide financial services to thousands of rural towns and villages without a bank as well as provide an alternative to the nearly two million Canadians who currently go to payday lenders. And our chapters have highlighted these ideas to the #CPReview2016 now underway.
