On December 23, 2008, Canada Post (CPC) told CUPW it was putting an end to National Consultation on changes to the Letter Carrier Route Measurement System (LCRMS) Manual and on changes to time values for letter carrier work in the Modern Post. 

CPC then filed two national grievances, under Appendices CC and V of the contract.

CPC said that they did this because the discussions were taking “too long” according to the Modern Post time table proposed by senior Canada Post management.

Union Says Consultation is Not Finished

CUPW’s position is that the parties have not finished their review of the LCRMS Manual and time values changes, so national consultation cannot come to an end.

The Corporation’s Modern Post initiative (sometimes called “Postal Transformation”) is the most significant change planned by Canada Post in decades.  Among the many changes that CPC wants to inflict on letter carriers and Mail Service Couriers (MSCs) are:

• Collation of householders by machine or by hand by another employee;
• Sequencing of up to 90% of letter mail by machine;
• Motorization of most letter carrier routes;
• Most MSC work done by letter carriers.

Changes in Work Need New Time Values

These changes mean major changes in letter carrier work methods.  The work method changes are very complicated.  LCRMS time values must be adjusted.  In some cases, new time values must be developed to reflect the changes to the work methods.

CUPW has been studying the CPC proposals very carefully to be sure that time for all work is included in the time values.  The Union has already forced CPC to correct some errors in its proposals.  CUPW continues to find problems with Canada Post’s proposals. 

Proposed Time Values Make Work More Difficult

Some of the issues where Canada Post and CUPW disagree are:

• Canada Post wants to remove all householder preparation time allowances because they plan to collate householders.
  
  
• Canada Post proposes that letter carriers deliver by merging 3 separate bundles of mail at the door:
  • Machine sequenced letters;
  • Manually sequenced flats and letters;
  • Householders.
    
    
• In developing time values, CPC pretends that householder mail does not exist.  Ignoring householders results in work methods that:
  • Make householders much more difficult to deliver;
  • Do not allow enough time to deliver the rest of the mail.

CPC has still not clearly defined all of the new work methods.

Not Enough Information on New Equipment

CUPW has received very little information about new equipment such as sequencing machines, householder collation machines, new depot delivery carts, and new vehicles.  Canada Post is either unwilling or unable to answer important questions about this new equipment.

Despite this, CPC wants to rush ahead and implement new time values when they can’t answer basic questions about how the new equipment will affect how members do their work.

Take the Time to Get it Right

Canada Post’s proposed changes will have a massive affect on postal workers’ lives.  CPC wants to cut jobs and make big changes in the way that we work.

CUPW believes that it is important to take the time to understand the changes and to get new time values right.  Canada Post’s Modern Post will cause a lot of disruption and will force letter carriers to deliver too many more points of call. 

Without proper time values, letter carriers will be forced to do extra work without any time.

According to the contract, new time values cannot be implemented until there is agreement between CPC and CUPW, or they are changed by the decision of an arbitrator. 

Canada Post – Back to the Lander Era?

Consultation does not end just because senior Canada Post management has underestimated how long it takes to do this important work.

Canada Post’s behaviour is very similar to how they dealt with route measurement issues in the early 1990’s, during the period when Donald Lander was the head of Canada Post.

Then, it took multi-year, multi-million dollar arbitrations and national strikes to get them to change their behaviour.  CUPW hopes that the Corporation will learn more quickly this time.