Denis Lemelin, national president of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers, said he’s confident that Canadians will join the union’s campaign to stop Canada Post from phasing out home delivery and encourage the crown corporation to invest in new services to offset the steady decline of mail volumes.
“If this happens, it would be the end of an era for Canada Post,” said Lemelin. “We recognize that Canada Post needs to change, but this is not the way. CUPW has consistently advocated for innovation and service expansion to create a financially viable and service-oriented postal service for the future.
“We are sure we are not alone in disagreeing with Canada Post’s plan,” said Lemelin. “CUPW will stand with those people who resist the elimination of door-to-door delivery.”
Lemelin said the union was stunned Wednesday when Canada Post unveiled a business strategy that will phase out door-to-door mail delivery in urban centres, wiping out up to 8,000 jobs, and dramatically increase the price of stamps. He called the move short-sighted, and said it could lead to losses for Canada Post.
The union has been pushing the idea of bringing back postal banking in Canada, which was discontinued in 1968, and points to other countries where postal services offer a range of financial services that could fill the gap for many Canadians who live in rural areas or small towns that traditional banks no longer serve.
“We are extremely concerned that these changes will send Canada Post into a downward spiral,” he said.
“Furthermore, the skyrocketing stamp prices will make the postal service inaccessible to many people.”
Canada Post employs 68,000 people. The union expects most of the labour savings from the overhaul will be borne by the 24,000 letter carriers.
The crown corporation estimates the changes will eliminate between 6,000 and 8,000 jobs which it expects to manage largely by attrition. It noted the average age of employees is 48 and about 15,000 workers are projected to leave or retire over the next five years as the changes are rolled out. Employees have strong job-security provisions in their contracts which make layoffs difficult.
Union officials say the job reductions could be higher because Canada Post already planned for reductions from declining mail volumes and new technology to streamline mail delivery.
The union, however, was pleased the government was giving Canada Post a four-year break from making special payments, as well as solvency payments, for its employee pension plan, which would have further eaten into operations.
The pension plan has a pension solvency deficit, which means it is facing a $6-billion shortfall if the plan was wound up and it had to meet all its pension obligations.
The move, however, will increase pressure on politicians to rein in the growing cost of public sector pension plans. In a statement, Canada Post said it plans to “act with urgency” to restructure the pension plan during the four-year reprieve and signalled plans to take further steps to reduce its labour costs, including at the bargaining table.
“With its current labour costs, Canada Post has a much higher cost structure than its competitors in the private sector have. This is simply not sustainable. The company will continue to bring the cost of labour in line with its competitors through attrition and collective bargaining over time.”
The Conservative government gave itself greater powers in the last omnibus budget bill to set the mandate for how crown corporations negotiate with employees, including the power to order a Treasury Board official to sit in on collective bargaining. At the time, Treasury Board President Tony Clement singled out crown corporations with financial issues, such as Canada Post, Via Rail and CBC, as reasons for the change.
Original Article
Source: canada.com/
Author: Kathryn May
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