Presentation to Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates

By Deborah Bourque

President, Canadian Union of Postal Workers

On behalf of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers, I want to thank you for the opportunity to appear before the Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates.

CUPW represents 54,000 workers in large and small communities from coast to coast to coast. A majority of our members work for Canada Post.
I think it is fair to say that this union knows, better than most, what it takes to make Canada Post work. CUPW has a well-developed, real world understanding of this public institution. We know its history, its strengths and its weaknesses.

I will start with its strengths, and then talk about some of the weaknesses we see in the system and some of the concerns we have for the future, based on our experience and our history.

We truly believe that Canada Post's strengths lie in its mandate.

The corporation is mandated by law to provide basic customary postal service while improving service, operating on a financially self-sustaining basis and balancing its objectives with the needs of its employees, most of them CUPW members.

The act outlining this mandate, the Canada Post Corporation Act, was unanimously adopted by Parliament in 1981. This legislation was the product of over two years of extensive consultation between parliamentarians, business groups and postal unions. It was an agreement that was carefully crafted to balance diverse needs, and it is an agreement that, we believe, still works for the public, for our communities and for businesses, both large and small. There is no groundswell of opposition to the current mandate.

Nevertheless, we have seen signs that Canada Post has unilaterally decided, or has been instructed by the government -we do not know - to ignore its legislative mandate to provide public postal service, break-even and improve labour relations.

Before proceeding, I would like to say that I do not intend to single out Ms. Greene, in my remarks to come, as being solely responsible for ignoring Canada Post's legal mandate. She is the figure head at Canada Post and the corporation's spokesperson. I think it goes without saying that the government is primarily responsible for ensuring that Canada Post lives up to its legislative mandate to provide public postal service, break-even and improve labour relations.

To be frank, labour relations seem to have taken a back seat at Canada Post after a long period of decent labour-management relations, at least at the national level. We've had almost a decade of labour peace. We've worked hard at developing solutions to problems through negotiations and pilot projects. But lately, the corporation seems to be much more confrontational and a lot less interested in working with the union to develop solutions to the problems at our public post office. Canada Post President Moya Greene has called CUPW a special interest group. The corporation has publicly accused us of featherbedding and fear mongering. All this, because we have raised concerns about post office and plant closures. We have not heard this kind of language from Canada Post since the mid-eighties, when former President Don Lander tried to savagely cut jobs and service at Canada Post, including thousands of post offices.

The corporation is not interested in operating the post office on a financially self-sustaining basis either. Ms Greene doesn't think the corporation makes enough money, even though it has had eleven consecutive years of profit. It made $199 million this year alone. The President of Canada Post actually told one parliamentary committee that she thinks the corporation is "withering." Last year, Canada Post delivered a record volume of mail to a record number of households. It made $199 million. I don't think you can say the corporation is withering.

Last but not least, Ms. Greene seems to think public postal service is a thing of the past and not something she has to pay attention to. She is fond of saying that Canada Post is a commercial enterprise and that she has a business mandate. But Canada Post is not a commercial enterprise. It is a Crown corporation.

Crown corporations like Canada Post have both public and commercial activities. But they are distinct from commercial enterprises in that they are designed to serve the public interest, not simply maximise profit.

Crown corporations like Canada Post do not have business mandates. But this is exactly what Moya Greene says she has, and it is this steadfast adherence to a business mandate that threatens to undermine our public postal system.