Background

Persons hired as rural or suburban mail carriers (RSMCs) who became employees of the Canada Post Corporation (CPC) on January 1^st, 2004 are entitled to use their continuous service for the purpose of determining their seniority ranking.

However, we wish to alert you to the fact that the employer is trying to eliminate this entitlement.

Seniority, Continuous Service and Breaks in Continuous Service

CUPW’s National Executive Board (NEB) adopted the following ranking criteria for RSMC members hired on January 1^st, 2004:

Continuous Service is defined as follows:

“Any combination of continuous time worked as a contract holder, sub-contractor, replacement or helper would be used to determine the ranking. This would include any combination of work locations and be based on the first day the individual started performing the duties.”

Breaks in Continuous Service is defined as follows:

A break for the purpose of determining rank would occur when the individual was no longer the contract holder and did not continue as a replacement, helper, sub-contractor or contractor; or the individual was no longer a replacement, helper, sub-contractor or contractor.

Required Information and Documentation

We need to receive at least two (2) documents proving the date of continuous service that you want us to use to determine your seniority ranking.  Examples are: copies of contracts indicating the date when you started to perform RSMC-related duties; an official letter or document from a contractor confirming when you started working or that you have remained available since then to work in RSMC-related duties; an official letter or document from a postmaster, supervisor, lead hand or other CPC employee confirming when you started working or that you have remained available since then to work in RSMC-related duties as a contractor, sub-contractor, replacement or helper.

CPC is trying to eliminate your rights

In early January 2010, CPC advised CUPW that it would no longer accept requests to change or correct data used to determine the seniority or continuous service of RSMCs hired on January 1^st, 2004.

The reasons put forth by Canada Post for this refusal to accept any new request after December 31^st, 2009 are found in the following excerpt of a letter sent to CUPW:

“The corporation must be fair to those employees who complied with the original time lines for establishing their contract service date […], Therefore, please be
advised that as of December 31^st, 2009, the corporation will no longer receive or process new requests related to […] dates for the purposes of determining RSMC seniority ranking […].”

CUPW rejects this decision.

CPC’s inflexibility and belligerence don’t surprise CUPW. We have expressed our disagreement in a letter sent to Canada Post: “The Union believes that the collective agreement allows employees to provide information at any time regarding their date of entry (continuous service date), which, if approved, impacts on their seniority ranking […] We maintain our position that seniority is a union right […].”

Neither does the Union agree with the deadline of December 31^st, 2009 mentioned in CPC’s letter.

CUPW will defend your rights

The Union will be filing a national grievance to challenge the implementation of this new CPC directive. We are asking all RSMC affected by this decision to keep sending all relevant information and material through their locals to the attention of CUPW members of the Transition Committee at the national level. We will let you know the results of the steps we take and whether grievances should also be filed at the local level.

Note :

Document prepared and written in consultation with CUPW Transition Committee members:
Francis Bénard, Jacqueline Wilkinson, Chris Pleasants