On October 17, 2005, the Parcel Delivery Model was implemented in the Vancouver area - sort of. Xpresspost and Expedited parcels delivered by Dolphin Delivery are now delivered by Mail Services Couriers (MSCs) and Motorized Letter Carriers (MLCs).


Only One Parcel Hub, Surplus Full Time Mscs

The employer has decided to implement only one MSC parcel delivery hub in the Vancouver area. The hub is located at the Vancouver Mail Processing Plant (VMPP) in the downtown area. The rest of the contracted-in parcels will be delivered by MLCs at depots in the Vancouver, Royal City, and Fraser Valley West Locals.

Except for downtown Vancouver, all relays were moved to the letter carrier operation. Because MSCs received only a small part of the parcel delivery work, there was a loss of 18 full time MSC routes and 18 part time MSC routes. All MSC positions in the Royal City Local (New Westminster and Port Coquitlam) were eliminated. Instead of declaring a surplus under Article 53, the employer added 14 MSC relief positions in Vancouver.

Including the 14 new relief positions, there was an overall gain of 31 full time jobs and a loss of 5 part time jobs.

Cupw Says MSC Surplus was not Necessary

It was not necessary to have surplus FT MSCs. CUPW argued that at least two and perhaps three MSC delivery hubs should be established in the Vancouver area.

CPC Operation Expensive and Inefficient

At the Vancouver Parcel Delivery Centre (VPDC), 32 part time MSCs are scheduled to do commercial pickups and street letterbox (SLB) collections. If parcel delivery work had been added to these assignments, there would be no surplus full time MSCs. Instead, trucks are used for only one short shift.

Meanwhile, at Depot 74 downtown, 23 part time MSCs will perform only relay delivery work. On the VMPP afternoon shift, 21 part time MSCs do Retail Postal Outlet and SLB clearances. CPC could match the Depot 74 jobs up with the VPDC pickup jobs and/or the VMPP afternoon shift jobs. This would create full time MSC jobs, make the surplus disappear, and save the Corporation money.

The responsibility for the extra cost of bad decisions rests solely with Canada Post at the local level.

Too Many Part Time Jobs

On top of the 32 part time MSC positions at the VPDC, CPC has created far more part time letter carrier jobs than anywhere else in Canada. Fifteen to twenty more full time MLC jobs could have been created in the Vancouver depots. This would have increased the options available to the surplus MSCs.

The PO4 Parcel Support staff consists of 22 part timers. The employer in Vancouver has stubbornly refused to combine this work with other Group 1 work to create more full time jobs.

Full Time Jobs More Efficient

The Winnipeg pilot project showed that full time jobs were more cost-efficient than part time jobs, especially where trucks were involved.

Grievances have been filed under clause 39.06 and Appendix S of the Urban Operations contract.

Despite the less than satisfactory results, the Local Working Committee worked very hard under frustrating circumstances and deserves everyone's thanks for their efforts.

There are many other problems with the Vancouver Parcel Model implementation. These will be covered in a later bulletin.

The staffing changes affecting the Vancouver, Royal City, and Fraser Valley West Locals can be downloaded below.