Still No Deal and Strike Mandate Running Out of Time
Prince George, B.C. – Negotiations between Canada Post and the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) continue, but there is no word on any progress being made.
Canada Post says the two sides “are no closer to a resolution”
The Crown Corporation does expect the Union to make some sort of move soon as CUP-W’s 60 day strike mandate will expire on August 25th. The union could call another membership vote to show support for an extension, but is said to be exploring other ways.
Canada Post’s Vice President of Sales, Serge Pitre says it’s possible job action could take place “Based on options available to CUPW, we can expect a 72-hour strike notice to be issued by the union between now and August 25. This does not necessarily mean that there will be full-scale work disruption associated with the notice, as in a recent bulletin the union reiterated that they do not want to go on strike.”
Pitre says he regrets he cannot provide more certainty for businesses, but that Canada Post remains “committed to our goal of reaching agreements that are fair to our employees – and that also allow us to provide the affordable pricing and service on which our customers depend.”
Comments
Who cares, go on strike. I then hope Canada Post shuts down and the mail service is privatized. Only then will the postal workers realize how good they had it. Think about it, all they do is place envelopes into a mailbox, it’s not like a lot of technical experience or education is required like other trades such as nurses, doctors, boilermakers, electricians etc..
Agreed! Time to like this dinosaur die.
like = let….it’s early! :)
That is a lot of good paying jobs. What if we carry this attitude to every job, inclusive of yours.
These people who have these good paying jobs are the ones that keep a lot of stores open in this town, and across Canada as well. If everyone was working for $15 and hour. it will be a totally different scene in this country. No Medical, no OAS, no social infrastructure.
Think about it. every good paying jobs need to be protected. regardless of how hard their work is.
Hey, I’m not even a union man, and I can see the value in that.
There’s a big difference between a well paying job and a well paying make work project. If it wasn’t for the government forcing Canada Post into keeping door to door delivery (for some people) this gravy train would have gone the way of the dodo a long time ago.
Times are changing.
It seems the main issue on which they can’t agree is whether pensions for new workers should be ‘defined’,guaranteed as to what a worker gets when he or she retires, or is subject to how the investment of what’s been paid in pays off.
What hasn’t been looked at is how ANY investments are ever going to pay off in any meaningful way when labored incomes overall are still the only source of income for most people through most of their lives, yet there is continual labor displacement as technology continues to automate more and more jobs out of existence.
It’s the spending from those incomes that provides the return needed if those investments, (many of which were made to actually displace the need for labor), are ever going to pay.
We can pretend all we want that these increases in labor saving efficiency are going to allow us to capture some foreign market and make us all rich, but that’s only a generalised theory that doesn’t bear upon the specific facts of what’s actually happening.
It’s long past time unions, if there’s to be any future at all for them, started to look at the BIG picture. Jobs are disappearing, and are going to continue to disappear. What’s needed is a way to provide incomes, and LOWER prices, for ALL separate from the employment that’s no longer needed.
He soke, if everyone worked for $15 per hour you would not have to pay $60,000 for a new vehicle because the guy putting knobs on the radio wouldn’t be making $45.00 an hour. It is all relative, higher wages mean higher prices, not rocket science. I guess you are okay paying $200-$300 a seat to see a Canucks or Oilers game, you wouldn’t want to begrudge someone making a good wage right?
so hows the pizza delivery business going peter???
Why should Canada Post shut down and be privatized? “The Canada Post group’s gross profit in 2014 was $269 million. In 2015, the corporation continued to remain profitable, posting a $136 million profit before tax.”
When an employer makes near record profits, should they not share “some” of those profits with the workers who helped the corporation make those profits? The only thing “dinosaur” about this situation are the attitudes of some people who visit and comment on this site.
Besides, what makes everyone think strikes are the only option, and response, to collective bargaining agreement impasses? Ever hear of “work to rule” or “arbitration” before? …. yeesh… try raising the discussion above simple right wing ideology and rhetoric!
Jgalt, re: your comment “When an employer makes near record profits, should they not share “some” of those profits with the workers who helped the corporation make those profits?
Uumm, nope!
If I hire you and our employment contract lays out the wage and benefits that I will pay you AND it doesn’t mention profit-sharing, then the profits are rightfully mine! After all, I took the risk when I started the company, I invested my hard earned capital, I put it all on the line!
Now, many of us business owners do share some of our profits, but make no mistake, we should not have to share as you suggest!
I have suggested to many of the leftwing persuasion that if they want a share of some of the profits, they should buy some of the shares of the company and then they can share in the dividends. Their typical response is that if they invest in the shares, they could lose their money if the company fails! Yup, that’s the risk you take for the reward that you hope to reap!
If you want to share in the rewards, jump on board for the risk! If not, collect your paycheque and enjoy your benefits, or move on!
If you think that Canada Post should share some of their profits with their unionized workforce, then you should agree that the unionized workforce would be willing to accept wage rollbacks if the company has a poor year! Go ask the Postal Union what they think of that idea, and then get back to us, ok??
Jgalt commented “When an employer makes near record profits, should they not share “some” of those profits with the workers who helped the corporation make those profits?”
Sure they should, as long as those same employees are willing to take a wage cut or even work for free when the times are not so good.
Not willing to do that? Didn’t think so.
Yes they make money, but only because they do more than letter mail. The letter mail division loses money every year and the slack is picked up by their other holdings. To make a profit one year they sold off real estate holdings, guess they can just do that year after year?
He spoke:-“Think about it. every good paying jobs need to be protected. regardless of how hard their work is. ”
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Good paying INCOMES are needed. But good paying ‘jobs’ are only good paying so long as what they pay isn’t eaten up in what YOU pay when you try to ‘consume’ what you, and others, have already ‘produced’. The wages and benefits attached to any job are a business cost that has to be fully recovered in price. Or the business is very quickly no longer in business. If you had everyone making at least the wages and benefits those at Canada Post currently get all that would happen is that the prices of everything would rise to the level where the costs incurred were taken back in prices. It might feel good, for some, to be working with bigger figures, but that’s really all we’d be doing.
What is needed is to recognise the facts. Jobs of all descriptions are being continually automated out of existence. That’s not going to stop. The costs of that automation still flow through into prices. Only they don’t distribute any incomes. Not in the SAME accounting cycle. If those displaced get re-trained and find another job, the wages paid in that job are part of the costs of THAT job. How do they meet the prices from the previous one? They CAN’T. Not unless we do as we’re continually trying to do ~ look for the next mega-project, the next Olympics, or Site-C, or LNG, or whatever. This is just delaying the inevitable, not really solving the underlying problem. And creating more along the way that will need to be dealt with. Time for a new approach entirely.
What company do you own Hart Guy?
Due to good prices and excellent customer service, a very old one! ;-)
“… a very old one (business).” Hmmm… intriguing! Well we know prostitution is the “oldest” profession so I’m going to go with that.
JGalt, I own the business! Are you looking for work? Have you had much “practice” in the oldest profession?
Hart Guy still misses Harper. Harper filled the province with guaranteed cheap labor so that no business would have to any more than min wage for many years. No need to raise a persons salary when this happens. Oh I forgot we just cant find any workers.
I agree with you, but I still seen an abundance of people who based on ethnicity and language I suspect are TFW’s, working in many of the fast food places in town. So, it seems the program is still running even with the Liberals in control.
When I was a kid 4 decades ago, it was hard to get a part-time minimum wage job – because being a boomer, there was plenty of us. I wonder if that’s true now. Have TFW’s taken the jobs of teenagers who want to work, or, is there actually a shortage of people for this type of work. If so, how would you solve the problem?
pay
Here’s the problem with defined benefit plans. An 18 year old employee today, enters into an agreement for an event 47 years down the road. The employer is agreeing to pay that person a % of their income for the rest of their lives when they retire. They are in fact obligating the shareholders,board of directors, government, taxpayers, to a liability no one can reasonable calculate.
Today’s pensions are underfunded because actuaries 40 years ago though my expiry date would be about 72, and now it’s 84.
This is why companies are now drawing the line here. General Motors before they went bankrupt single greatest expense was pensions and benefits of retirees. They are loath to repeat the same mistake of the past. If anything, they’re being honest with the current generation in that they are telling them, there are no guarantees.
Justin’s recently proposed changes to CPP are nothing more than his feeble attempt to kiss up to big labour by helping bail out their under-funded gold plated defined benefit public sector pension plans.
From the Financial Post, June 21, 2016: The dirty secret of a bigger CPP is that it’s to help bail out public-sector pension plans
ht tp://business.financialpost.com/fp-comment/philip-cross-the-dirty-secret-of-a-bigger-cpp-is-that-its-to-help-bail-out-public-sector-pension-plans
Underfunded public sector pension problems? No problem, let’s just get the average Canadian, who doesn’t even have a pension plan at all, to bail out the public sector plans!
Sounds fair, right? (SARCASM!)
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