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Tentative Collective Agreement NO WAY!!
Sisters and Brothers,
With the approaching Membership vote on the Tentative Agreement, our Union is at a major turning point in its history as a militant and staunch Union that does not compromise its principles in advancing the cause of the rank and file members.
NEVER in the history of our Union has the National Executive Board of our Union been so divided in recommending a Collective Agreement to our members.
NEVER has a National President been required to break a tie in order to provide the narrowest of possible margins of support for a tentative agreement.
NEVER have any of our past Negotiating Committees ever been prepared to even consider such proposals as CTI which stands completely counter to one of our Union’s guiding Policies which is entrenched in our National Constitution.
NEVER has our Union been prepared to allow incentive pay systems to divide and conquer our ranks by forcing individual members to consider compromising their rights such as sick leave, etc. in order to enable the Corporation to meet some arbitrarily established targets thereby resulting in the payment of some paltry sums to our members. Our Union has always BARGAINED definite wage increases and has NEVER left it to the employer to pay our members wages based upon “Potential” productivity gains.
In the upcoming Ratification Votes on this Tentative Collective Agreement, I, as your Local President, am encouraging you to consider all of the implication of this very dangerous provision in the proposed Collective Agreement. Ask yourself… “Where will I be next round of bargaining when the employer will want to force more of my wages to be governed by “Potential Productivity and Engagement Gains?”…”Will I be better off than with a definitive and negotiated wage increase?” The answer will be OBVIOUS!!!
Postal Workers all across Canada are speaking out and STRONGLY opposing this MAJOR directional and orientation change for our Union. There has NEVER been such a united cross-country opposition to a proposed Tentative Agreement as there is for this one.
As your Local President I propose the following:
· Send a Strong message to the National President (Deborah Bourque) and The Negotiating Committee that they are to return to the Bargaining Table to negotiate an agreement which meets the needs of Postal Workers and does NOT violate our Policies and principles.
· Vote NO on this proposed Tentative Agreement and send the message that Postal Workers will not go blindly into an uncertain and merely “potential” future based upon the Employer’s whims and arbitrarily established productivity and engagement targets.
· Send a Strong message to the National President that Postal Workers are NOT interested in this fundamental change to our Union’s long standing orientation.
· Vote NO and send the message that we, as the rank and file, deserve better than this employer driven agenda.
Finally, it is your right, as a member, to demand that you receive a full and detailed explanation from 50% of your National Executive Board who voted NO on this proposal and demand that one of those members be present at any ratification vote to speak to the membership. Do not accept the National President voting to break a tie to present this collective agreement to the membership.
This Tentative Agreement establishes and sets the precedent of having productivity and engagement increases based upon arbitrarily (Employer) established targets determine the full scope of our wages. In addition, this Tentative Agreement does not deal with the serious issues of Staffing and Workload for ALL of the Groups covered by the Collective Agreement. In other words, this is an EMPLOYER agreement and does not reflect the goals and aspirations of rank and file Postal Workers.
For all of the reasons, I strongly recommend that you vote NO on this agreement!!!
In Solidarity,
Jane Marsh Toronto Local President February 19, 2007
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