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CANADIAN UNION OF POSTAL WORKERS 7020 Mumford Road, Halifax, N.S. B3L 4S9
February 14, 2007
TAKE A CLOSE LOOK…
I think it is important when you are thinking about how to vote on whether to accept this tentative agreement you look at where we have come from, not only in this round of negotiations, but our Union as a whole. A good place to start is our Constitution in Section B and, specifically, clause B-1 – “Free Collective Bargaining”. It states in part,
“Both in terms with its struggle with the employer and in terms of its orientation within the Labour Movement, the Union rejects all forms of wage restraints, whether in direct form or indirect, such as “taxation incentive programs” or productivity based increases.” (emphasis added)
In supporting the CTI, which is clearly a productivity-based increase, we are in direct violation of our Constitution. There are good reasons why such programs are opposed by our Union.
Management has said the CTI is a strike issue for them. They want this program bad. All the other bargaining units at Canada Post have agreed to this program and some now are wishing they hadn’t. Management wants postal workers to agree to an incentive of 3% each year for meeting Corporate performance targets. The incentive could be less than 3%, or nothing if targets are not met or more than 3% if targets are exceeded. The CTI, or Corporate Team Incentive, is currently based on meeting Canada Post’s targets for its customer value index, financial performance, delivery service and employee engagement.
The targets are determined solely by management. The terms and conditions of the incentive may be changed each year by management. The Union has no right to grieve these changes. The CTI is a lump sum of money; it is not as good as a wage increase. With a regular wage increase your hourly rate raises every year; it is cumulative. The incentive payments disappear after it has been paid; it does not get added to your wage, like a wage increase does. The CTI does not increase the amount you make for working overtime like a wage increase does and, more importantly, the incentive is discriminatory. It is not paid to people who, for example, are on disability insurance or to our temporary employees. Also, it is very likely that the CTI will pit worker against worker. Under the “employee engagement” portion of the targets, there are absenteeism and accident frequency targets. Clearly, if members of your unit or installation are not performing “up to snuff”, they may become targets of their co-workers. Overall, the CTI is not a good thing.
LOOKING BEYOND THE CTI
Let’s take a moment to look beyond the CTI and at this tentative agreement as a whole. In September 2006, the National Union put out the negotiations Perspective. The following is an excerpt of the preamble from Sister Deborah Bourque, National President. She states, “We believe this program is both focused and comprehensive. While it does not deal with every problem we face at the workplace it does address the major issues affecting postal workers in the areas of job security, wages and benefits, staffing, and working conditions.”
Clearly we were asked to focus our demands going into this round of negotiations. There were some 800 resolutions submitted by the locals to the National Union. From there, following the National’s wishes, these resolutions were narrowed to 72 demands. Out of these 72 “priority” demands, 47 were not achieved and 13 were only partially achieved. There are virtually no gains whatsoever in the area of staffing for Group 1 employees and nothing for temporary employees. Let’s look at some of the demands that were not achieved:
§ No contracting out § No opening of private sector franchises after January 31, 2007 § Contract in work (including maintenance, combined urban services, highway services, etc.) § Reduction of weight limits for all groups § Improved night recovery leave § Eliminate three years’ service requirement and standardize the entitlement for all groups including temporary employees § No employee shall be required to undergo a medical examination by a CPC designated physician § Groups 3 and 4: no exams or test to obtain promotion or transfer provided the employee has the qualifications § Amend Appendix P (staffing ratio for Group 1) to allow Union to grieve staffing violations of 39.02 and 39.03 and add a mechanism to ensure full-time positions are maximized in smaller offices
These are only some of the major demands the Union had that were not achieved this round of bargaining. Please, don’t be fooled. Vote NO to accept this tentative agreement! Clearly, we can do much better with the strength of the members behind us!
In solidarity,
Kevin Buckland Regional Grievance Officer
ds/cope 225 AR#5.07
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