Dear Sisters and Brothers,

Welcome to the next edition of Member to Member Connection. Again, your stories of resilience, problem solving and generosity inspire us and your stories of challenges and heartaches connect us.

Our economy is in deep trouble and we need to take stock. Many industries like the auto sector are threatened and workers are being laid off or forced to take reduced hours. Pensions and benefits are being eroded and workers are feeling under more stress at work and at home. If your family hasn’t been directly affected, you likely know families that have been affected. And many of our members are feeling rising pressure as the Corporation goes through many changes. If you have a child with special needs this can mean increased anxiety about your job and the work demands.

Canada Post has recognized the value of our work on child care, and in particular our Special Needs and Moving On projects. The support we provide to reduce the financial pressure and improve the family’s health and overall well being impacts on our members’ ability to sustain and engage in their work. In the future we will want to expand our Child Care Fund and our Special Needs and Moving On projects.

The union actively works to represent our interests in every area of work life. We need collective agreements that protect our job security, wages and working conditions. But this alone is not enough. Although we must fight for decent jobs that can sustain a family, there is no guarantee of future jobs with benefits for our children with special needs. To protect our children and the children of other families without our projects, we must fight for broader social policy programs. That will be good for all our children and our communities.