At a meeting held on November 9, 2009 the employer presented the Union with explanations of its proposals concerning various health care plans and its proposed “corporate team incentive” (CTI).

DRUG PLAN

The proposal made by the employer is similar to the drug plan now in effect for Union members covered by the Urban Operations collective agreement. Under the plan RSMC members would be reimbursed 80 % of the cost of a drug listed on the pre-set list of covered prescription drugs. If a member could not take the listed drug initially prescribed by his or her doctor, because the drug did not work for him or her or caused an allergic reaction, the member could be reimbursed at the same 80 % level for the non-listed drug then prescribed by his or her doctor. 

The employer’s proposal does not cover all RSMC members as it excludes coverage to relief employees and those route holders who work, on average, less than twelve (12) hours per week. Under the employer’s proposal the drug plan would become effective March 1, 2010.

The major difference between the employer’s proposal and the coverage under the Urban Operations agreement is that the premium level for the RSMC members would be significantly higher than it is for Urban Operation members. Under the Urban Operation agreement the employer contribution to the drug plan is 95 % and the employee contribution is 5 %. The proposal made by the employer concerning RSMC members is that the premiums would be shared on a fifty/fifty basis.

VISION & HEARING PLAN

The proposal made by the employer is similar to the benefits accessible by Urban Operation members. The employer’s proposal would raise the current benefit ($130.00 every two (2) years) to $300.00 every four (4) years and provide a one time payment of $300.00 for laser surgery. These improvements would not be applied until January 1, 2011. The benefit for hearing coverage would increase from $ 600.00 to $ 750.00 for every five (5) year period. The employer did not propose an effective start date for this improvement to begin.

DENTAL PLAN

The employer’s proposal would update the dental fee guide by applying the 2009 dental fee guide effective January 1, 2010 and the 2010 dental fee guide effective January 1, 2011.

SHORT-TERM DISABILITY PLAN

The employer is proposing that effective January 1, 2011 RSMC members (except those holding relief positions pursuant to Appendix “E”) become entitled to a short-term disability plan. Under this proposed plan members would be entitled to thirty (30) weeks of income protection if they were absent from work due to illness, accident or hospitalization. However, there would be a seven (7) day waiting period if the absence from work was the result of an illness. The payments received by the member under this proposal would be seventy percent (70 %) of his or her base wage (excluding vehicle allowance and variable pay).

In making its presentation of the short-term disability plan the employer also proposed that effective January 1, 2011 the number of personal days to which each route holder was entitled would increase to seven (7) days per year. Five (5) of the days earned in 2011 could, if unused, be carried over to 2012 or paid out. In making this proposal the employer also indicated that it wanted to place more restrictions on the use of these days than currently exist in the collective agreement. These new restrictions would require three days notice if the days were being used for “non-urgent” matters, with the employer having the right to deny such “non-urgent” requests on the basis of operational requirements. 

CORPORATE TEAM INCENTIVE (CTI)

According to the employer the CTI is a “one-time pensionable payment made to eligible employees based on corporate performance”. In order for the payment to be made the employer must meet established financial thresholds, with the Canada Post segment of the employer’s company reaching an identified profit standard. Once these thresholds are met any payment is determined on the basis of the targets being met in the areas of “employee engagement”, which includes a reduction in the number of accidents, and goals for employee training, delivery service standards, customer value and financial performance.

In order to be eligible for the payment a member would have to be an indeterminate employee on or before the first working day of the year being assessed, be on strength as of December 30 of the same year and have worked a minimum of three months during the year. The employer proposal excludes relief employees.

At an earlier meeting between the parties the employer had responded to a question from the Union by indicating that any payment to RSMC members under the CTI would come from the financial cap. What this essentially means is that the employer would pay productivity bonuses to RSMC members from monies to which RSMC members are already entitled.

APPENDIX “A” AND TRANSITION COMMITTEE

On November 10, 2009 the employer provided fuller explanations of its proposals concerning Appendix “A” and the Transition Committee. The Appendix “A” proposal would see the “point of call” variable value divided into a “centralized point of call” variable value and a “non-centralized point of call” variable value. The proposed payments for these two variable values would be respectively 11.5 cents and 22 cents. The employer proposal would also see an increase in the variable value for “point of call located within a commercial building” (37 cents) and “kilometres” (46 cents). Finally, the proposal creates four new variable values and provides the following payments: “street letter box clearance” (24 cents), “retail postal outlet clearance” (30 cents), “bag service” (11 cents) and “pickup service” (24 cents). In respect of the Transition Committee the employer proposal called for its elimination from the collective agreement on the basis of cost and utility.

The Union responded negatively to the employer’s proposal concerning Appendix “A”. It argued that the variable payments contained in Appendix “A” should be converted to time values. It also argued that the application of the increases being proposed by the employer would still result in a decrease in the hourly rate applicable to each RSMC route. As for the proposed elimination of the Transition Committee the Union identified those provisions of the collective agreement that described the work performed by the Transition Committee and asked the employer how such work would be performed if the employer proposal was accepted.

60 DAY NEGOTIATION PERIOD QUICKLY COMING TO A CLOSE

As of November 29, 2009 the sixty day period of negotiations mentioned in clause 36.03 will come to an end. After that date either party may refer unresolved issues to third party arbitration. The Union remains committed to obtaining a negotiated collective agreement with the employer and to that end will continue to negotiate with the employer to obtain the collective agreement improvements the membership requires and deserves. During this remaining period of negotiations members should continue to keep apprised of events at negotiations and continue to show their support for their negotiation demands and their Negotiating Committee.