BY MAIL AND EMAIL

Lawrence Cannon
Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities
Place de Ville, Tower C, 29^th Floor
330 Sparks Street
Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0N5

Dear Mr. Cannon:

Re: Call for moratorium relating to rural mail delivery

I am writing to draw your attention to ongoing and serious problems associated with Canada Post’s review of rural mailboxes and to request that you support our call for a moratorium relating to rural delivery.

As you know, Canada Post is reviewing 843,000 roadside mailboxes. As a result of this review, the corporation has informed many rural residents that they can no longer have roadside mail delivery because their mailbox cannot be delivered to safely.

In the course of reviewing mailboxes, the corporation does not always take the time to talk to rural residents or explore all available options before moving mail delivery to a community box, green box or a post office. Likewise, it does not always consult with union representatives or rural delivery workers who have first-hand knowledge of the safety and delivery problems within a community.

This unilateral approach has lead to frustration and outrage among rural residents and difficulties for rural delivery workers. We believe that Canada Post needs to thoroughly consult and explore all available options with rural residents as well as local union officials who represent rural and suburban mail carriers.

This is why the Canadian Union of Postal Workers is calling for a moratorium relating to rural delivery.

Terms of moratorium relating to rural mail delivery

1. Canada Post should stop taking unilateral decisions regarding rural mail delivery.

2. Canada Post should not be allowed to move rural mail delivery from roadside boxes to other locations until it has thoroughly consulted and explored all available options with rural residents as well as local union officials who represent rural delivery workers and who have first-hand knowledge of the safety and delivery problems within a community.

3. This process should be subject to an exception in cases where a rural and suburban mail carrier has identified unsafe roadside mailboxes. In such cases, Canada Post, the rural resident and local union officials should work out an interim solution. For example,the rural delivery worker could drive up to the rural resident’s door, have a neighbour accept the rural resident’s mail on a temporary basis with permission from the resident and neighbour or, if necessary, temporarily move delivery to a post office.

4. Canada Post should go back and review roadside mailboxes in cases where proper consultation has not occurred and rural residents have lost home delivery.

In some cases, the solution to an unsafe mailbox may be as simple as moving the box to a safe delivery location. Of course, in other cases, it may not be that simple.  There is a chance that it will not be possible for Canada Post to keep delivering to a rural resident’s mailbox if there is no safe way of dealing with problems.  Having said that, there are solutions to many of the delivery problems that rural residents are encountering.

As I indicated earlier, I would like you to support our call for a moratorium. Thank you in advance for your attention to this request.

Yours truly,

Deborah Bourque
National President

c.c.       CUPW NEC, REC, National Union Representatives, Regional Union Representatives, Specialists, CUPW Locals