CUPW Scarborough Local Newsletter

Dear Michael, Sisters and Brothers,

We had a National Day of action on June 30th.  Modern Post - Powered By The People !  From what I have heard, 90% of our members walked out to take a Solidarity Coffee Break together !  I have seen a great many pictures of mass gatherings outside of our postal stations on that day.  Congratulations to one and all that participated.  I believe a clear message was sent to the boss that we are a membership united when it comes to defending our collective agreement, and supporting our negotiating team.  There will be more campaigns, both local and national in the months ahead, they all need your support. 

Photos can be found on our website by using this link, also check links section at bottom of email.   http://scarboroughcupw.org/MP/10-06-30.htm

                       THE WORKERS UNITED WILL NEVER BE DEFEATED !!!!!!!!!
In Solidarity,

Postal union claims mail not delivered

By Rachel Stern - Nanaimo News Bulletin
Published: June 24, 2010 10:00 AM

Mail in Nanaimo isn't being delivered when the post office is short staffed, says the Nanaimo postal union president.

Shane Lorenz, president of CUPW local 786, said mail went undelivered on Tuesday on a portion of a Harewood route and on Wednesday a portion of a Rutherford-area route was not delivered.

Mail also went undelivered on Monday after two new carriers failed to complete their routes in the Stephenson Point and Rutherford areas.

Lorenz said he was told by management that it is no longer using mandatory overtime or casual employees to fill these gaps in service.

"It's a sad state of affairs," said Lorenz. "This is the first time an entire section of a route has purposely been left behind."

He said he received no explanation about why the practice was implemented, but believes it has to do with saving money.

"It's going to affect the public dramatically at some point," he said.

Colleen Frick, spokeswoman for Canada Post, said she couldn't comment on local managment decisions, but said the Crown corporation uses the resources and employees available to meet their service standards.

"We feel confident that delivery service standards for customers are still being met," she said. "We feel we're still doing right by our customers."

Mail left behind Monday included social assistance cheques - something Lorenz said he hasn't seen in his 18 years as a postal worker. Even during a strike, postal workers still deliver social assistance cheques, he added.

Frick said delivery standards vary from two to four days, depending on when a letter or parcel was sent and where it originated.

She said cheques will still be delivered within the service standard and if they weren't delivered Monday, they would be the next day.

In March, Canada Post announced plans to review its Victoria mail processing plant to find ways to improve operations and have the majority of mail sorted in Vancouver.

Amazon opposes plan to end Saturday U.S. mail delivery

Eric Engleman on Wednesday, June 23, 2010, 1:41pm PDT

The U.S. Postal Service has proposed various ways to address its budget deficit, including ending Saturday mail delivery. Now online retailer giant Amazon.com is coming out against the proposal to end Saturday service.

In a statement to Congress today, Amazon Vice President for Global Public Policy Paul Misener said Amazon's customers have come to expect Saturday mail delivery. He warned that if the U.S. Postal Service goes through with the plan, Amazon would shift roughly a sixth of its U.S. postal business to other carriers.

Here's an excerpt of Misener's statement (pdf, 4 pages) to a subcommittee of the Senate's Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee:

As I mentioned before, Amazon's customers have come to appreciate and expect Saturday delivery. While they may be willing to wait until Monday or Tuesday for a bill they don't really want; an advertisement they didn't ask for; or a magazine to which they subscribed long ago; they expect the items they purchased this week to be delivered as soon as possible.

Later:

Ceasing Saturday street delivery service would be much worse for our rural customers, who simply would not be able to receive parcels on Saturday because there are no delivery alternatives to the USPS.

Interestingly, online DVD service Netflix is backing the plan to end Saturday mail delivery, arguing that a "well functioning" Postal Service is more important than "maintaining current delivery frequency."

Amazon and Netflix are among the Postal Service's biggest customers, so it will be interesting to see how this plays out.

A Brief History Lesson,

The Labour Movement in Canada dates back to the ealry 1800's.  Since education was a luxury and not a 'right', most workers were illiterate and very few written records documenting their struggles and conditions exist today.  The records we do have, however, show a big division between skilled (or trade) workers and unskilled workers.  An unskilled worker usually could not earn enough money to house and feed a family.  Women (paid half as much as men) and children (paid about 1/3 a mans wage) worked to supplement the household income.  The worst catastrophe that could befall any worker was an incapacity, through illness, injury, or old age, preventing him or her from working.  Workers also lived in fear of "recessions" and winter, since both caused the closure of industry and, therefore, high unemployment.

A skilled worker fared much better, earning about three times that of his unskilled co-worker.  Skilled craftsmen were in high demand in the building and settling of Canada and brought with them not only their skills but the standards already long fought for and established in Europe by their guilds or associations.

Throughout most of the 19th century, unions were illegal organizations.  Legislation prohibited membership, organization, or even TALKING about unions.  The penalties for those who sought to organize were stiff: fines, jail or, worse, being shut out of the job market entirely, were all common.  Even so, organization did happen.  Workers knew that they would haave a better chance of improving their lives speaking with one voice than they would have individually; and so they met and organized in secret.  Fear of reprisal made workers protect each other's identity and use the terms "Brother and Sister" instead of their real names.  Today we still refer to each other as Brother and Sister as a form of respect and remembrance to those who fought to build the labour movement we can now openly belong to.     

(Taken from the CLC Steward Handbook)

I thought I'd take a bit of time each edition and throw a little history into the mix.  Sometimes we appreciate more what we have today, if we can see where we have come from.

 Dates to Remember !

July 13th - Shop Stewards Meeting    7pm     Local Office

July 17th - Basic Shop Stewards Course  9am - 3pm  Local Office

July 20th - General Membership Meeting  7 pm  at  Flippers Fish House

Aug 14th - Local BBQ  11am - 4pm  @  Milliken Park

Aug 19th - Shop Steward Meeting    7pm   Local Office

Aug 26th - General Membership Meeting  7pm  at Flippers Fish House

                                            SPECIAL MEETING
                                      Willowdale B
                                 Willowdale Depot 2
                                 Willowdale Depot 3
 
            A Special Meeting for WILLOWDALE B, WILLOWDALE DEPOT 2 and WILLOWDALE DEPOT 3 employees has been arranged for July 22, 2010 at 03:00 PM to 5:00 PM to provide members of these stations an over view of what is coming in the next couple of years.
 
Radisson Hotel Toronto East
(Toronto & Kitchener Rooms)
55 Hallcrown Place
Toronto ON M2J 4R1
 
 
 
In Solidarity

July 3, 2010

 

National Consultations, June 21, 2010

 
National Consultations took place on June 21, 2010 at Gateway on Modern Post/Postal Transformation, concerning technological changes coming to the Toronto and Scarborough Locals. As usual, things have changed, little or no information was provided, and CPC would have to get back to us on most of our concerns.
 
A new 29.03(b) notice was provided for a new container handling system for the new Letter Flat Tray (LFT) being introduced.  The first group of MLOCR's[1] will go live on July 26 and Adelaide will get it's mail sequenced to their current walks on August 9, 2010 if all goes well. Adelaide is still scheduled to have their restructure with the routes sequenced in October 2010. Adelaide will be the first site in the country to have two waves of carriers sharing an A62 case.  The new C48 carts and Depot Carts will be introduced.
 
The employer still was unable to provide information on the impact to Group 1, in fact the Local employer tried to consult with the Toronto Local about changes to the Scarborough Local, and was reminded, it was National consultations.  Consultations on Don Mills, Toronto 'O', Toronto 'R' move, have been scheduled for July 9, 2010.
 
The current (sic) plan for Don Mills, Toronto 'O', Toronto 'R' Group 2 is as follows.  The Volume count in June is off, as the station is not ready and is in bad shape from a structuring point of view.  A volume count has been scheduled for September 2010. The stations will still move in October 2010 if the new facility is ready, and carriers will get an adjustment to their transportation times only.  Copies of the new floor plan and site plan are posted on our website at the following link: http://scarboroughcupw.org/Don_Mills_files/70_wynford_drive.htm.  The restructure will be implemented in February 2011, if all goes well.
 
The National employer indicated there would be a simultaneous FULL restructure of the YDC, while the Local YDC manager indicates it will be a limited restructure, either way it will trigger a full bid at the YDC for MSCs due to the reduction of assignments.  The employer has not indicated what will happen to the MSC's without tours in 2011, as they do not go with the work to Don Mills as Letter Carriers.  The restructures of Willowdale Depot 2 and Willowdale Depot 3 have been put off indefinitely.
 
The Local also raised concerns that the Edit Book was not being done properly in Unionville, Don Mills, 280 Progress and Scarborough Depot 11.
 
The new Winnipeg plant is not fully functional and work is still being performed at the old location, and there are concerns over the Docks, Packet Sorter, Shipping Systems, Job Rotation and Health & Safety.
 
Further consultations have been scheduled for July 26 & 27, 2010.  As new information becomes available, it will be provided to you as soon as possible.  You can expect regular updates after major consultations.
 
In Solidarity
 
 
 
 
Mike Duquette
President
Scarborough Local

Quick Links...

http://scarboroughcupw.org

http://scarboroughcupw.org/MP/10-06-30.htm- link to June 30th day of action pictures.