Just say no to Canada Post demands

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A strong strike mandate is a good an­ tidote to the breath-taking concessions now demanded by the Canada Post Cor­ poration (CPC). That is the message of the leaders of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) to their 54,000 members.

The last postal strike occurred in 1997. Collective agreements signed in 2000, 2003, and 2007 contained rollbacks to severance entitlements, utilization of sick leave benefits, and included introduction of “team incentives” that undermine soli­ darity. Now, it appears, the union is draw­ ing the line—which may become a mass picket line this summer—and none too soon.

Management demands include the fol­ lowing: the elimination of thousands of jobs (by reduction of the internal fulltime staffing ratio to 72% from 78%, reducing full-time positions at wickets, elimination of both wash-up periods, and the introduction of new mechanized equipment), slashing the pay of new hires by nearly 30 per cent, the reduction of vacation leave, a new “cost-sharing formula” for retirees that would require employees retiring after Dec. 31, 2011, to pay 100% of the premiums of the Extend­ ed Health Care Plan instead of 25%, lim­ iting the Cost of Living Allowance (COLA) to instances when inflation increases by 8 per cent or more, the “adjustment” of injury-on-duty pay from 100% down to 75%, and no pay for short-term illness (absences of less than seven days).

For the last 15 years CPC has made a profit—an achievement beyond its man­ date, accomplished on the backs of postal workers and by eroding service to the public. The union’s demands at the ne­ gotiating table include that the profits should be put back into Canada Post to improve service to everyone and to im­ prove working conditions and wages of the workers that provide the services. CUPW is negotiating to improve service at corporate retail counters, to increase the door mail delivery, and to introduce postal banks in communities that cur­ rently have post offices but no banking institutions.

Canada Post has not only tried to im­ pose rollbacks on its workers, but also on all Canadians with the introduction of “community mail boxes,” reduction of post offices, service disruptions due to inadequate staffing, introduction of auto­ mation which removes a letter carrier’s ability to ensure accuracy of delivery, re­ duction of street letter boxes, and so on.

So a lot is at stake in this round of col­ lective bargaining. CUPW can revitalize itself by mobilizing its members and sup­ porters, and return to its proud heritage of class struggle. It can return to the ex­ emplary role it played as a militant, dem­ movement how to stand up to concession demands, as the bosses everywhere try to make workers pay for the global capi­ By NORMAN “OTIS” RICHMOND The author has been a radio broad­ caster for 25 years and is a Black com­ munity activist in Toronto.

Dudley Laws was known as a fearfree activist who would stand up to police brutality when many of us were too afraid to step up to the plate. He joined the ancestors on March 24 after battling kidney disease. The Jamaicanborn Laws had stared death in the face many times. It is amazing that he lived 76 years. I always said, “Dudley was like a cat, He had nine lives.”

He was born in St. Thomas Parish, Jamaica, on May 7, 1934, to Ezekiel and Agatha Laws, and was a brother to three siblings. A welder and mechanic by trade, he worked at Standard Engi­ neering Works until he emigrated to the United Kingdom in 1955 and be­ came involved in defending the Carib­ bean community. In 1965, he relocated to Toronto, Canada, where he worked