On July 5 2016, OFL sent a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, urging him to take immediate action to prevent the imminent lock out and service disruption at Canada Post, this summer. The time to take action is now! Canada Post locked postal workers out in 2011 until the Conservatives forced them back to work with legislation that has since been ruled unconstitutional.
The OFL is calling on Prime Minister Trudeau and his Liberal government to take a different path by insisting Canada Post to get back the bargaining table with CUPW to reach a fair contract.
Click here to download a PDF of the letter. Please use this letter as a template to send your own message to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Tuesday, July 5, 2016
The Right Honourable Justin Trudeau
House of Commons
Ottawa, ON K1A 0A6
Subject: STOP the imminent and unjustified Canada Post lock out and negotiate a fair deal with the union
Dear Prime Minister:
On behalf of the Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL), a proud customer of Canada Post Corporation and keen supporter of the Canadian Union of Poster Workers (CUPW), I urge you to take immediate action to prevent the imminent lock out and service disruption at Canada Post, this summer.
Given that nearly 18,000 of our members’ work for Canada Post, the OFL is incredibly disheartened that postal workers have unjustifiably been without a contract since the beginning of the year, and have been locked in drawn-out negotiations over equal pay for rural postal workers, job security and pension structure. Prime Minister, these are basic rights that should be afforded to every Canadian in the workforce.
The CUPW has been attempting to negotiate pay equity for its female-dominated workforce of rural carriers and stave off the Canada Post’s demands for massive rollbacks. The fact of the matter is that Canada Post is one of the worst perpetrators of gender discrimination in the federal public service. The CUPW represents employees in the Rural and Suburban Mail Carriers (RSMCs) bargaining unit of Canada Post – 70 percent of these employees are women. The CUPW also represents urban Letter Carriers who are in another bargaining unit at Canada Post – 68 percent of these employees are men.
However, as identified within the commendable review you launched into the future of Canada Post, while the work by these two groups of employees is virtually identical, the predominantly female unit of RSMCs earns 28 percent less in wages and has significantly inferior pensions and benefits than the predominantly male-dominated unit of urban Letter Carriers.
Prime Minister, as a self-professed feminist, is the aforementioned reality fair?
The Canadian public, who will soon be held hostage by a national postal service shut down, knows that Canada Post has tabled just one offer since negotiations began. I can assure you that the country is standing by to see how your Liberal government will resolve this urgent situation and that of rogue Canada Post CEO Deepak Chopra, who refused a Liberal request to resign. You’ll no doubt know that Mr. Chopra has repeatedly approached labour relations with a sense of antagonism and hostility towards the Canada Post workforce.
The time to take action is now! Canada Post locked postal workers out in 2011 until the Conservatives forced them back to work with legislation that has since been ruled unconstitutional. I urge you to take a different path by encouraging Canada Post to get back to the bargaining table with CUPW to reach a fair contract.
Canada Post has helped to build our nation and link even the most remote communities throughout Canada. This was made possible on the backbones of every worker it now plans to shut out. I hope you will not let that happen.
I await your government’s swift action on this matter of national importance.
Sincerely,
Chris Buckley
President, Ontario Federation of Labour
On behalf of:
OFL Executive Board
The Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL) represents 54 labour unions and over one million workers. For information, visit www.OFL.ca and follow @OFLabour on Facebook and Twitter.
Copy: Hon. Judy Foote, Minister of Public Service and Procurement
Hon. Rona Ambrose, Leader of the Official Opposition
Hon. Thomas Mulcair, Leader of the NDP
Mike Palecek, National President, CUPW
Sanjay Sapra, National Director, Metro-Toronto Region, CUPW
OFL Executive Board
