November 18, 2004

(Letter sent to the New Glasgow Evening News)

Dear Editor:

I would like to respond to the November 13th letter from the local president of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers, "Struggle continues for rural deliverers."

For decades thousands of people negotiated individual contracts with Canada Post to provide delivery services in rural Canada. These entrepreneurs were required to have a dependable vehicle, a valid driver's license and appropriate commercial automobile liability insurance. As part of their contract they were also expected to provide replacements to cover their routes when they were not available. As independent business people, they were able to claim their expenses; vehicle, gas, etc. on their income tax returns.

Canada Post agreed to offer these contractors employee status during the last round of collective bargaining with the Canadian Union of Postal Workers. Since January 2004 some 6,000 Rural and Suburban Mail Carriers (RSMCs) received a wage increase, vacation leave and pension plan entitlements resulting in an approximate increase of 20 per cent versus what they received as contractors.

A Joint Transition Committee, created as a part of the collective agreement, and made up of representatives from both management and the CUPW, meets regularly to discuss the concerns of individual RSMCs. The mandate of the committee is to make recommendations on improvements to the wages, benefits and working conditions of the RSMCs and that work continues.

In accordance with the collective agreement, RSMCs have the flexibility to take their vacation leave when they choose, however, they are required to have a qualified person cover their route during their absence. The proposal made by the union regarding replacement workers would be too extensive to manage and removes the flexibility of each RSMC to determine when they take vacation, the number of vacation days taken at one time and the preferred replacement to cover their route. The corporation has proposed that pilots be conducted in selected areas to better understand the relief requirements of the RSMCs and assess other options. Discussions on this issue will continue until the parties can come to an agreement on the process.

We are only eleven months in to an eight-year collective agreement and the main focus to date has been to ensure the smooth transition of over 6000 RSMCs from contractors to employees of Canada Post. We have every intention of seeing that the collective agreement is respected.

Sincerely,

John Caines
Manager, National Media Relations
Ottawa (613) 734-7675