Postal Workers (CUPW): Vote No to concessions!
2012Elizabeth Byce 2012-11Read it in the scan (PDF at ETOL), page 9 →
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On Oct. 5, the Canadian Union of Postal Workers and Canada Post Corporation reached a tentative agreement. They did it by negotiation, not by the arbitration process imposed by the federal govern ment following the employer lockout in June 2011. Arbitration was delayed for months as CUPW chal lenged federal Labour Minister Lisa Raitt’s appoint ed arbitrators.
The first arbitrator was removed for having no background in labour relations and for not being bi lingual. The second arbitrator, a former Tory federal candidate, Guy Dufort, rejected CUPW’s demand that he step down in April, and was finally removed after a Federal Court of Justice ruling in August.
The tentative agreement is generating opposition in many CUPW locals because it includes concessions that were rejected by members in 2011 prior to the strike and subsequent lockout. The deal would put in place two-tier wages and pensions for new hires, and rollbacks on other benefits. Accepting the deal would mean alienating new hires and undermining solidarity within the union. It could bust the union from the inside.
Jeff Callaghan, National Director of CUPW for the Atlantic Region, issued an open letter to members urging them to reject the tentative agreement. Here is a portion of his argument:
“The tentative agreement you are being asked to ratify includes many of the same rollbacks members voted overwhelming against and went on strike just last year to oppose: accepting to give up our Sick Leave benefits for STD, eliminating a wash-up break and the imposition of a two-tier wage scheme for new hires.
“It also includes a major change to our Defined Contribution Pension Plan for new hires. So while wages, benefits and pensions of current workers are protected, for now, workers coming into the post office will face a totally different picture. They will start working beside you making $6 an hour less and will have to work almost a third of their career be fore they make what you make in wages (7 years). These workers will also have to work 5 extra years before they will become eligible to retire....
“What will my ‘No’ vote mean? Contrary to what the majority of the National Executive Board would have us believe, there is another option for CUPW; it’s the same option workers have always chosen to stand up and fight back. CUPW has always stood up to an employer hell bent on breaking us and strip ping away our rights and on every occasion, an em ployer who always had a federal government in their pocket. And while the cards have never been stacked in the workers’ favour, that never stopped us from taking on those challenges together. This is another one of those challenges.
“Voting ‘No’ to this agreement means the fight to protect and improve our rights and benefits will continue. The Union at all levels will continue to or ganize and challenge the employer (and the govern ment) through the legislation and court system and we will take action to ensure workers are once again mobilized to fight back, just as we were last June. Vote ‘No’ to this tentative agreement and tell the em ployer this is far from over.”
There is a lot at stake here for the entire working class. If CUPW members accept a concessions deal, they would join the Canadian Auto Workers, who recently ratified a two-tier contract with the Detroit Big Three automakers. The year 2012 will go down in infamy as the year two of Canada’s historically most militant unions caved-in to the bosses’ divideand-rule tactics.
Ratification votes will take place between Nov. 13 and Dec. 19, so there is still time for the “No” cam paign to gather momentum and win. n Photo: Socialist Action