Canada Post is spending $2.5 billion on new plants, vehicles, equipment and other items to modernize our post office. The union is concerned that some of these investments will negatively affect your work and working conditions.

Modernizing the post office will affect different groups in different ways.

External workers:

Over the next few years, Canada Post plans to introduce mechanized sequencing of lettermail in major plants. As a result, letter carriers will spend less time sorting and more time delivering.

Canada Post plans on having letter carriers handle two separate bundles of addressed mail while on the street, which will make delivery more difficult, especially with householders. It will also be unsafe. The corporation is insisting that letter carriers read while walking.

The corporation is also planning on motorizing most routes in areas affected by mechanized sequencing. Most Mail Service Courier (MSC) work (parcels, pick-up) in these areas will be given to Motorized Letter Carriers (MLC). Management hopes to eliminate thousands of positions as a result of these changes.

Internal workers:

Workers will be operating new mail processing equipment, which will require fewer workers. The new letter processing machines are more accurate, with fewer rejects, and capable of sorting the mail to line of delivery. As a result, there will be less manual and final sortation.

The new parcel machines are more sophisticated and require less manual handling (eg. no need to separate parcels into a single line, face up the parcel or scan it).

Canada Post's plans mean that internal workers will:

• be forced to work more night shifts because most of the mail will be sequenced at night.

• have fewer opportunities for job rotation because there will be fewer tasks or duties.

• have fewer opportunities for transfers and promotions because there will be fewer positions.

The union is also concerned that there are ergonomic issues that have not been considered and that management may expect members to work faster because the machines run faster.

Rural and Suburban Mail Carriers:

CUPW has asked Canada Post how its modernization program will affect RSMCs, but the corporation has not yet provided any concrete information. It is probably safe to assume that RSMCs will be affected in a manner similar to letter carriers (i.e. reduced sortation time, increased area of delivery). The union will continue to press the employer for additional information.

Who benefits from modernization?

Canada Post says that its modernization plans “are critical to assuring the functioning of our operations today, meeting the changing demands of our customers, and realizing the productivity improvements and cost savings that will allow us to be financially self-sustainable.” 1

The corporation is expecting to save millions annually from modernization, largely through productivity gains that pave the way for the corporation to eliminate thousands of jobs. It is also hoping to cut costs by eliminating rural mail box delivery, closing post offices, removing street letter boxes and other means.

The union and its members are understandably concerned about the corporation's focus on cuts. We would like to know:

• Why should all the productivity gains be used to eliminate jobs in communities that need jobs?

• Why should all the productivity gains go to Canada Post?

• Why isn't the corporation sharing these gains with employees who are working to improve Canada Post and the public who owns the post office?

CUPW strongly believes that our public post office should share the benefits of modernization with workers and the public in the form of improved working conditions, job security and improved service.

CUPW also believes there are alternatives to cutting jobs and services. Unfortunately, Canada Post does not.

Different visions of the future

CUPW and Canada Post have different visions of our post office's future. Canada Post wants the corporation to be much more business-like. It has focused on commercial objectives and the needs of its biggest customers while cutting public postal services and increasing demands on workers. It has closed post offices, removed rural mail delivery and withdrawn street letter boxes. It has also cut retail staffing to the bone in many locations, forced letter carriers to work mandatory overtime rather than adequately staffing routes, and hired Manulife to run an attendance management program which puts getting employees back to work before their health and safety.

The corporation is now hoping to use modernization to further advance its commercial goals. CUPW thinks it is time for Canada Post to start acting like the public service people want it to be. While Crown corporations like Canada Post engage in both public and commercial activities, they are distinct from commercial enterprises in that they are designed to serve the public interest, not maximize profit.

CUPW's vision of a modern post

Canada Post needs to take a less commercial and more socially responsible approach as it transforms our post office for the future.

It needs to look at ways of using modernization to maintain a financially-sound, serviceoriented public post office.

We need a modern post office that:

• is universal, public, affordable and green.

• maintains and improves services.

• works for people and employees.

• provides good jobs in communities.

• promotes economic growth and healthy communities.

• is service-oriented and financially viable.

What the union is doing

CUPW is demanding that Canada Post:

1) Share the benefits of modernization with postal workers and the public. The union has developed a set of demands to address the impact of modernization. CUPW is demanding health and safety studies, contracting in of work, more day shifts, more door-to-door delivery, the preservation of rural delivery and other measures (For details, see CUPW's fact sheet called Modern Post: Our Vision Must Win!).

2) Live up to its obligation under the urban operations collective agreement. Article 29 requires that the corporation 'eliminate all injustices to or adverse effects on employees and any denial of their contractual or legal rights' when making technological changes. This includes the changes that are being made as management rolls out its modern post plans.

What you can do

Get involved in the union

• Stay informed.

• Go to meetings.

• Read bulletins.

• Watch the DVD on modernization (coming by mail) and the Powerpoint (to be presented by your union local).

Know your rights

• Don't be a machine.

• Don't be pressured or intimidated by the new technology.

• Work safely.

• Support your co-workers.

• Report any safety hazards to union representatives and the employer.

Act

• Wear union buttons.

• Participate in union actions.

• Tell the boss to share the benefits of modernization with the public and postal workers.

• Support other workers, locally and globally.

1 Canada Post Corporation, Submission to the Strategic Review, Canada Post: A Blueprint for Change, 2008