Recently the National Office has received many reports that some letter carrier and RMSC routes or parts of letter carrier routes have not been covered on some days when the carrier is absent.

Most of these reports have come from the Pacific Region.  A few have come from southern Ontario.

Not covering all or part of a carrier’s route means that some Canada Post (CPC) customers did not get their mail on that day.

Violation of Clause 17.04

This is a violation of clause 17.04 and other clauses of the Urban Operations contract. 

It also violates the Canadian Post Service Charter that the federal government put in place last year.  The Service Charter says:

Canada Post will deliver letters, parcels, and publications five days a week (except for statutory holidays) to every Canadian address, except in remote areas where less frequent service may be necessary due to a limited access to the community.

CPC Says Not a National Policy

At the August 4, 2010 National Consultation meeting, Canada Post said that non-coverage of routes in this manner was not a CPC National Policy, nor was it a policy in the Pacific Region.

But it seems that someone in the Corporation is giving orders that mail does not necessarily have to be delivered.  Is it a “trial balloon” for a rollback that CPC plans to introduce in the next round of urban bargaining?  Is it meant to get members upset at the local union next time CPC wants to force carriers to work overtime?

Coverage of each route each and every day is a very important issue for postal workers.  In 1984, the Letter Carriers’ Union of Canada (LCUC) very nearly went on a national strike when CPC tried to violate what is now clause 17.04.  At the end of the day, the parties agreed to put the issue to Arbitrator Carl Goldenberg.

Mr. Goldenberg said that the Union was right – every route had to be covered every day.

Customers Deserve Daily Service

This issue is important to postal workers because it is important for the customers that we serve.  Customers need to have confidence that mail will be delivered – or they won’t put letters in the mail box.

In the most recent issue of Contact, the Canada Post propaganda magazine, the Corporation said:

  “…we succeed only when every employee is thinking about the customer every day…”

But if routes are left uncovered and mail is left undelivered on some days in order to pinch pennies, CPC is clearly speaking out of both sides of its mouth in terms of its “commitment to the customer.”

Under the Urban Operations collective agreement, members should grieve each and every incident where a route is fully or partially uncovered, regardless of CPC’s excuse for doing so. We need to ensure part-time or full-time volunteers or call in temps who were not solicited get paid for these violations of our collective agreement. Under the RSMC collective agreement, locals should file grievances when relief positions are not staffed properly.  

Locals should report incidents to their Regional Offices and the National Office so that CUPW can monitor the issue.