CUPW members ratify concessions
2013Elizabeth Byce 2013-01Read it in the scan (PDF at ETOL), page 10 →
The words are the paper's own, from its digital file; the division into articles was made by machine, so a box or caption can end up inside the article next to it.
Scan page 10
Members of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) voted in December to ratify a new collective agreement with Canada Post Corpo ration (CPC).
The tentative agreement generated opposition in many CUPW locals be cause it includes concessions that were rejected by members in 2011 prior to the strike and subsequent lockout. The deal puts in place two-tier wages and pensions for new hires, and rollbacks on other ben efits.
Given the high No vote, what im pact will the outcome have on mem bers, and on the union’s top leader ship? In 2008 Deborah Bourque was defeated in her bid to be re-elected CUPW president, largely due to her support for a concessionary agree ment with CPC. Denis Lemelin won the post, and retained it in 2011. Now that Lemelin has caved in, he will face over 600 potentially angry delegates at the 2014 convention.
For workers who used to count on CUPW for its militant resistance to the bosses’ agenda, it should now be clear that a new fighting left wing is needed in virtually every union.
This won’t happen by accident.
Only a cross-union, class-struggle workers’ opposition can chart a new course to stop and reverse conces sions.
Scan page 11
Tony Savino / Socialist Action