December 18th to 24th, 2022

856,

That’s it. Everything you could have delivered was delivered. When the Earth’s calendar switches over to winter, the people celebrate. We have drinks and food and gifts, and we are responsible for making sure a healthy portion of those gifts make it to the people expecting them.

The busy season comes and goes every year, and postal workers always show up and get it done. Congratulations on another successful busy season. You earned it.

 

COMMUNITY ORGANIZER

If you think the union can and must do better, keep reading. If you think the union has a lot to offer working people, the labour movement, and society at large, there is a great opportunity for you to get involved.

The CUPW National Office is currently looking for Community Organizers to take on a public campaign of information and outreach. We’re looking to build bridges with other labour organizations and individuals, and increase overall awareness of our union, its initiatives, and the issues important to our members in terms of working conditions, labouring in the 21st century, and the places we would like to see the corporation we work for go in the future. 

The union is a lot more than a grievance machine. It is more than route measurement. It does a lot of things, and public advocacy like this is part of it. As a union, and as a leftist organization that is determined to raise the living and working standards of not only our members, but all working people.

We’re heading into an important year. Our economy has been in a recession for months, and it seems like it is going to get worse before it gets better. Our collective agreements also expire in a year. The RSMC collective agreement expires on December 31st, 2023 and January 31st, 2024 the Urban Operations agreement expires. We will be in a fight to make gains in the upcoming round of contract negotiations, and this is part of preparing for that.

Bulletins will be sent out to the union boards in your workplace, but if you’re here, check out the posting: https://www.cupw.ca/en/apply-now-be-community-organizer

And here is the application form: https://www.cupw.ca/en/cupw-community-organizer-application-form

Deadline is January 9th. Good luck.

 

FUEL RATE

There is a little relief for RSMCs coming in a few days. After we turn the calendars over to January, RSMCs will be receiving $0.68 per kilometer traveled for the first 5,000 kilometers a year. This is a seven cent increase over the 2022 rate, and I am told this is quite significant. More details about the increased rates here: https://www.canada.ca/en/department-finance/news/2022/12/government-announces-the-2023-automobile-deduction-limits-and-expense-benefit-rates-for-businesses.html

This is a bit of cold comfort for RSMCs. The rate increase will be welcome, but it’s really late in arriving. RSMCs were dealing with historically high fuel rates this spring and summer as gigantic oil corporations continued to make record profits. Gross.

 

B-ROUTES

There was a discussion with management last week regarding the issues that B-Route letter carriers in the Southwest depot have been dealing with since this summer when these new routes went online.

Management committed to a couple of our bare-minimum requests. They said there would be more tubs for carriers to use for their mail and they were going to bring in screens that will block cold air from creeping under cases, chilling wet-clothes-wearing letter carriers sorting mail at the end of their days. Those screens still haven’t made it to the depot.

When we talked to B-route carriers, the main issue was that multiple bundles are just too difficult to manage. Carriers need time to organize mail so that it’s not difficult and dangerous to handle on the street. Having some time at the case in the morning was one of our asks. We also asked if sequenced mail could be delayed by a day to allow some of it to be organized into safer, manageable bundles of mail. 

We are waiting for answers on all of this, and this is a slow time of year for answers. We will have to wait, and hopefully we get some good resolution in the new year. 

 

LOCAL MEETINGS

Last Saturday, December 17th, just about 40 local members came down to the local office to elect the local’s delegation to CUPW National Convention in Ottawa from May 1st to 5th, 2023.

Your delegation is: Matthew Aitken, Robert Atanacio, Ranjit Cheema, Patrick Clare, Jeff Didham, Archie Dimaano, Cameron Fortier, Mahdia Hasan, Ha Yen Jiwa, Parvinder Kaur, Myron May, Tyler Nielsen, Lisa Peterson, Cheryllynn Saramaga-Martai, Reggie Taman, Eric Toupin-Selinger, and Sean Tugby. That’s an alphabetic-by-last-name list. 

When you run into a delegate in your workplace, let them know what you think about the state of the union and ask them about the kinds of resolutions that will be coming forward at the convention. This event happens every four years and the union changes a little. If you want to be a delegate to convention in 2027, start coming to local meetings!

The local is hosting it’s next general membership meeting on January 7th at 10:00 a.m. in room 107 of 275 Broadway, in the Union Centre. At that meeting, we will be presenting the latest trustee report and electing a new Chief Shop Steward, External. Maybe. We will also be debating a couple of notices of motion that were presented at the December meeting.

We had a motion presented that will see RSMCs paid their daily vehicle allowance if they work a day for the union. The text of the motion is:

Motion to replace the entirety of

7(d) finance

Any member, including Rsmc’s who is required by the union to be absent from service, shall be reimbursed, any lost wages, including their routes vehicle allowance for that day. This does not apply to an rsmc elected, or appointed to a full-time officer position or any union assignment longer than a two week period.

In the case of ocre’s, or Pre’s, they will be compensated the equivalent of the vehicle allowance they incurred on the most recent day they worked for the employer.

We also had a motion presented that will eliminate the $5,000 honorarium that full-time officers receive for liabilities incurred by their positions. That motion is long because it involves clauses for four officers. The text of that motion is:

Notice of Motion

This notice of motion is to ELIMINATE:

6.1.t) The President shall receive the sum of five thousand dollars ($5,000) per annum, to be paid annually, in order to meet the personal liabilities incurred in fulfilling the duties of this office. This rate shall be paid at the rate of one-twelfth (1/12) of the annual sum for every complete month that a member holds the position. Partial months shall be prorated at the direction of the President.

6.3.f) The Health and Safety Officer shall receive the sum of five thousand dollars ($5,000) per annum, to be paid annually, in order to meet the personal liabilities incurred in fulfilling the duties of this office. This rate shall be paid at the rate of one-twelfth (1/12) of the annual sum for every complete month that a member holds the position. Partial months shall be prorated at the direction of the President.

6.7.h) The Grievance Officer shall receive the sum of five thousand dollars ($5,000) per annum, to be paid annually, in order to meet the personal liabilities incurred in fulfilling the duties of this office. This rate shall be paid at the rate of one-twelfth (1/12) of the annual sum for every complete month that a member holds the position. Partial months shall be prorated at the direction of the President.

6.7.v) The Secretary-Treasurer shall receive the sum of five thousand dollars ($5,000) per annum, to be paid annually, in order to meet the personal liabilities incurred in fulfilling the duties of this office. This rate shall be paid at the rate of one-twelfth (1/12) of the annual sum for every complete month that a member holds the position. Partial months shall be prorated at the direction of the President.

AND THEN REPLACE articles 6.1.s, 6.3.e, 6.7.i, and 6.8.n with:

6.1.s) The President is to receive the Union Representative rate of pay (as established in the National Constitution), and all benefits, paid bi-weekly. The President can only carry over holidays from one fiscal year to the next, with the approval of the Executive Board. For the salaries and fringe benefits included in this article, the President waives the forty-hour work week and will use whatever hours are necessary to fulfill the duties of the position.

6.3.e) The Health and Safety Officer is to receive the Union Representative rate of pay (as established in the National Constitution), and all benefits, paid bi-weekly. The Health and Safety Officer can only carry over holidays from one fiscal year to the next, with the approval of the Executive Board. For the salaries and fringe benefits included in this article, the Health and Safety Officer waives the forty-hour work week and will use whatever hours are necessary to fulfill the duties of the position.

6.7.i) The Grievance Officer is to receive the Union Representative rate of pay (as established in the National Constitution), and all benefits, paid bi-weekly. The Grievance Officer can only carry over holidays from one fiscal year to the next, with the approval of the Executive Board. For the salaries and fringe benefits included in this article, the Grievance Officer waives the forty-hour work week and will use whatever hours are necessary to fulfill the duties of the position.

6.8.n) The Secretary-Treasurer is to receive the Union Representative rate of pay (as established in the National Constitution), and all benefits, paid bi-weekly. The Secretary-Treasurer can only carry over holidays from one fiscal year to the next, with the approval of the Executive Board. For the salaries and fringe benefits included in this article, the Secretary-Treasurer waives the forty-hour work week and will use whatever hours are necessary to fulfill the duties of the position.

This motion will be retroactive to January 1st, 2023.

If you think you like or dislike those motions, come down to the Union Centre on January 7th, have your say, and place your vote.

We got some bad news about the pocket calendars this week. Thunderbird Press in Richmond, B.C., had some problems producing the calendars and they haven’t even started production yet. We’ll be talking about getting them from another printer next year, but we also want to keep the cost low. Thunderbird Press does calendars for many locals, so they only cost $1.00 a piece. Who knows? A little mystery for the new year. 

Nobody is planning on coming into the union office on Monday and Tuesday next week. We’ll be in from Wednesday to Friday. 

Be well, everyone. I hope you have a good few days here with the people you care about.

Peace,
Matthew