CUPW will mark Canada Post's 28^th anniversary by celebrating our struggle to improve public postal service and defend the rights of postal workers.

We fought for the creation of Canada Post

As some members may recall, the road to the creation of Canada Post as a Crown corporation was long and difficult. Postal unions and the Canadian Labour Congress campaigned for years before Parliament saw the light and passed the Canada Post Corporation Act on October 16, 1981, with its mandate to provide basic customary postal service while improving service, being financially self-sustaining, and balancing the objectives of the corporation with the needs of employees.

Since the creation of Canada Post, CUPW and its allies have worked hard to ensure that Canada Post lives up to its mandate. We have fought service cuts and post office closures. With the help of municipalities and other allies, we have managed to get successive federal governments to agree to a moratorium on post office closures in rural and small towns. Most recently, we fought against postal deregulation and won.

We are fighting for our Modern Post

Today, we are engaged in a new struggle. The corporation is modernizing our post office by investing about $2 billion in new plants, vehicles and equipment. Canada Post sees modernization as a key plank in its plan to deal with its financial future and other major challenges. It is expecting to save millions annually.

Modernization will affect everyone who works for the post office.

While CUPW understands that Canada Post needs to modernize, the union also knows that the corporation needs to take other measures to ensure that modernization does not interfere with its mandate to improve service and labour relations under the Canada Post Corporation Act.

CUPW is demanding that Canada Post:

1) Live up to its obligation under the urban operations collective agreement. Article 29 requires that the corporation "eliminate" any injustices to or adverse effects on employees and any denial of their contractual or legal rights" when making technological changes. This includes the changes that are being made as management rolls out its Modern Post plans.

2) Share the benefits of modernization with postal workers and the public in the form of improved service, job security, working conditions and health and safety.

In fact, the union has developed a set of demands to address the impact of modernization. CUPW is demanding contracting in of work, more door-to-door delivery, the preservation of rural delivery and other measures (For details, see CUPW's fact sheet called Modern Post: Our Vision Must Win!)

The Struggle Continues