With both parties rooted in their positions, Canada Post Management is blaming your problems with delivery personnel that leaves early. At the same time, its union says that the problems of the Crown Corporation come from its own financial management.
The Chiefs of Canada Post and the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) met at a hotel in the center of Ottawa on Monday, the first day of hearings in the Industrial Research Commission convened by the Minister of Labor.
The Commission is supposed to examine the financial situation of Canada Post, the business model and labor practices and produces a report in May.
Canada Post and Cupw are not closer to solving a dispute in the workplace that led to a four -week strike during the occupied vacation season. On January 17, the union said the negotiations had broken down once more.
Canada post in ‘Critical Rockure’
Cupw argued on Monday about poor management within the corporation and postal bosses who wish to weaken the power of the union.
For their part, the Corporate Chiefs of Canada Post complained of an inflexible staff and a regulatory framework that prevented the transition from a five -day card transport service at a daily package delivery service.
“We are at a critical situation with Canada Post at this time,” said the CEO Doug Ettinger. “We need to develop our operational model again. It is an outdated and outdated operational model that in the hypercompetitive market for hypercompetitive electronic commerce stops us.”
The audiences began with the senior leadership of Canada Post establishing the terrible financial situation and personnel structure that prevents it from pivoting it.
Rindala El-Hage, Financial Director of Canada Post, described a gloomy economic perspective. He projected a financial loss at 2025 of $ 900 million, which will increase to almost $ 1.7 billion in 2029. El-Hage emphasized that this is more than $ 6.9 billion lost accumulatively for five years.
She said that the corporation is also burning in cash, and it was expected that it would exhaust its reservations at some point in this year if it had not received an injection of more than $ 1 billion from the federal government.
Personnel problems
The Vice President of the Post of Canada, Alexandre Brisson, explained that the collective agreement prevents the corporation from reasigneing the card operators that end their emails before the end of its eight -hour shift.
The research commissioner, the law professor at the University of Ottawa, William Kaplan, described that lack of “disconcerting” flexibility.
“How is it not a problem when someone is paid for eight hours of work, and there is more work that could be done, and the corporation could avoid paying overtime to another person causing that person to work during the eight hours for which Is they paid? “Kaplan asked the union.
The union explained that in 2003, Canada Post eliminated the requirement that card carriers take their lunch in the office in an attempt to reduce overtime. Instead, it allowed carriers to work during their lunch and leave early.
Cupw complaints officer Jim Gallant said workers under the current model are encouraged to work faster.
“When people are scheduled for eight hours, they work eight hours. And when you give them a carrot to say that you can go home early, people run,” Gallant said, adding that changing this rule would not necessarily make workers more flexible.
Union blames bad financial management
During the presentation of the union, the president of CUPW, Jan Simpson, called the commission a “biased” process that favors Canada’s post. She said Crown Corporation has more resources and closely controls her financial information.
“Despite our doubts about this process, CUPW values any opportunity to discuss the public post office and the contributions of our members,” Simpson said.
The union also accused the senior leadership of Canada’s bad financial management.
Sending a letter with post canada will now cost $ 1.44 per stamp, and everything else will also cost more. It is part of a price increase in all mail products that, according to the Corona Corporation, will help with the increase in operation costs.
“Our experience during the last decade and a half has taught us to be skeptical of the financial reports of Canada Post,” said Simpson, pointing out past “inaccurate” projections that Simpson says that the corporation is using to “justify the cuts of services and Demand concessions in trade union negotiation. “
She said that Canada Post also chose to maintain the “exceptionally low” letter fence rates over the years compared to other internationally postal services, while allowing a “significant increase” in non -capital costs, administration expenses and the purchase of mail processing equipment and fleet vehicles that are often inactive.
“Instead of addressing these critical problems and looking for solutions in a timely manner, Canada Post waited until the negotiation cycle had a manufactured crisis,” Simpson said.
“Canada Post is trying to use its financial struggles as a pretext to implement drastic drastic and intestines cuts and long -standing collective agreements.”
The union has said that he issued separate demands for his urban mailmates and his rural and suburban emails, but made the following combined demands for both groups:
- Salary increases of nine percent, four percent, three percent and three percent in four years.
- A cost of living allocation.
- Ten medical days in addition to seven days of personal license.
- An increase in short -term disability payments to 80 percent of regular wages.
- The improved rights for temporary workers and employees for guard help.
Simpson said that Canada Post has been pressing for a rewriting of the Collective Agreement of the Corporation, two -level pension systems, the highest monitoring of the workers, the reduction of the license and other benefits and the reduction of overtime and salary initials.
