June 21, 2006

Bibiane Ouellette
Clerk, Standing Committee on
Government Operations and Estimates
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0A6

Dear Ms. Ouellet:

I am writing to follow-up on requests for information and to correct two statements I made during my appearance before the Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates on June 6, 2006.

Mr. Kramp requested:

1) Accident reports from two deaths in Ontario.

Both of the people killed were replacement workers. The union does not have yet the accident reports. Human Resource and Social Development would have investigated the accidents. We do know that one of the people killed was from Pembroke and the other was from Warkworth.

When a Rural and Suburban Mail Carrier (RSMC) in Pembroke was off sick, his wife  took over the route while he recuperated. The RSMC's wife was delivering with the aid of an assistant. The assistant was provided as a result of a work refusal. The assistant was her daughter. On May 18th, the RSMC’s wife was involved in a motor vehicle accident.  She suffered serious injuries and her daughter died. The daughter was just 20 years old.

In Warkworth, a man was killed while performing RSMC duties.

Just last Monday, an RSMC was seriously injured near Lindsay, Ontario.

All these workers were doing their duties when they were injured or killed.  

2) A list of rural post offices that have been closed.

The moratorium announced in 1994 covered all "one post office towns", including 3603 offices staffed by members of the Canadian Postmasters and Assistants Association and 364 offices staffed by members of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers. 

Both CUPW and CPAA are currently reviewing the list of offices covered by the moratorium. We hope to be able to provide you with an updated list of closures in the near future.

As I indicated earlier, I would like to correct two statements I made during my appearance:

During my appearance before the Committee, I said that CUPW had not been provided with the IBM study that Moya Greene mentioned during her appearance before the Standing Committee on Transport, Infrastructure and Communities.

We have been informed that the IBM study is the regular study that is done to assess service levels. We have seen this study. However, I would like to point out that Ms. Greene told the Transport Committee that the IBM study shows service in Quebec to be the best in the country. This will not be the case once the mail processing plant in Quebec City is closed.

During my appearance before the Committee, I also said Canada Post had pulled delivery from all houses on a route when members exercised their right to refuse to deliver to one or more unsafe locations on a route.

We now know that Canada Post had started to deliver to most mailboxes on a route by the time we appeared before the Committee. We regret that we did not have this information at the time.

If committee members have any additional questions, please do not hesitate to contact me. I can be reached at 613-236-7230 (7909).

Yours truly,

Deborah Bourque
National President
Canadian Union of Postal Workers