On November 30^th the CUPW signed a memorandum that resolves the final 2000 or so cases that remained in the pre-August ’92 backlog grievance process.

This process, which began in March of 1990 with a CUPW referendum permitting the creation of a dispute resolution mechanism designed specifically for the grievance backlog, eventually saw the Union use it to deal with approximately 140,000 grievances.

As longer service postal workers may recall, the pre-August ’92 grievance backlog came to be as a result of the labour relations climate created by the employer in the mid-eighties.  Hundreds of postal workers were being discharged every year, many for little or no cause.

The impact of the number of discharge cases on the arbitration process was so great that they virtually blocked any other type of grievance from being heard.  In fact, the load they imposed on the processes that were in use at the time was so heavy that in some instances, discharged grievors had to wait for up to 2 years for an arbitration hearing date.

This in turn gave license to management behaviour that was frequently outrageously at odds with the various collective agreements that were in existence at the time.  As it was understood that violations would not see the light of arbitration in the foreseeable future, many a supervisor was heard to say “Grieve it.  Who cares?”

The answer was the Union did care and worked hard to ensure that over time, that each of these cases had an opportunity to be reviewed on the basis of merit.

SETTLEMENT INCLUDES PROCESS CONSOLIDATION GRIEVANCES

Of the grievances that had remained outstanding, by far the largest group is one relating to the employer’s introduction of a technological change in 1990/91 called Process Consolidation Phase 1.  These 1556 grievances are expected to receive the lion’s share of the compensation the Union has secured.

Smaller groups involved in this settlement include approximately 280 Ottawa Local members who were denied paid meal and rest periods as temporary/casual Group 1 workers from October of 1987 to August of 1992 and about 180 Group 2 temporary/casual Montreal workers who were incorrectly subjected to a series of 19 day contracts in the early 90s.

Details regarding the disbursement of these monies will be published as soon as possible, likely in the New Year.