Hello Winnipeg Local,

The workload structuring committee has had their hands full this last month. The battle continues the front lines at Church, in-depth route investigations are taking place at NED, preparations for McDermott and Moray depot are in full force. We have also welcomed some new faces to the Workload structuring committee along with an ongoing interest in participation in observing restructure phases and learning the vast world that is workload restructuring.

The build at church has been everything but a walk in the park, the work floor engagement, insight from Health and Safety, and sheer determination from the observers have proven to be useful and effective tools in the onslaught at the hands of the corporation. The union representatives have been vigilant, smart, and stacked with local knowledge of church depot to fight back at ever chance we get. The RMO department has been sitting in the hot seat, so much that our persistence in pushing back has had them accuse us of delaying and interfering with the build. To boot the builders have been feeling the pressure, so uncomfortable at times they have threaten to move to work remotely. Delays being seen at Church are none other than by the corporation themselves, they haven’t had consistent APOC representation to perform observation task with us and the RMOs schedule is so jammed pack and overlapping that it has been an ongoing circus of musical chairs. The build is nearing completion and much awaited information on the total number of routes, router positions, final depot details and bidding process will be provided to the membership in the up coming weeks.

We were asked back in December to help the corporation determine and pinpoint just where they went wrong at NED and why it isn’t sunshine and rainbows after switching to SSD. The last couple weeks one of our brothers has been deep diving into some of the routes and what he is finding is mind blowing. From missing and inaccurate variables to inadequate timing values the amount of work the carriers have been doing is far exceeding what their routes have been built too. If the members need and require this type of investigation, we will continue to do our best to make ourselves available.

Volume count and prep for McDermott restructure is up and coming and again keeping our committee very busy. Expect a floor talk in the up coming weeks to inform you on the process of the volume and participation needed from the members at McDermott to ensure nothing gets missed or uncounted. We have a mix of experienced counters and some who are getting there first taste of observing a volume count, knowledge is power and if there is interest the committee will strive to include members who are interested in learning.

Sean and I were invited earlier this month to participate in an SSD information night to answer questions and concerns from the other locals within our region. Our experiences while negative provides us with the ability to give other locals further insight on what to expect and angles that can be used to combat the steam roll of SSD. We as a local have dug our boots in the ground and we are not going away.

Overall, the battle in Winnipeg is just beginning, many members are to be thanked as this work can be very emotionally draining, mentally taxing and very tedious at times. We all love the work we do; I know we can make a difference if we can keep being loud and persistent to hold the corporation accountable for this mess they have gotten themselves into.

 

Toni Montanti

Workload Structuring Officer