One campaign win, but still a long way to go

The federal government and Canada Post recently announced that the moratorium on post office closures in rural and small towns would continue. This is excellent news for people who live in rural and small towns. It is also great news for workers at close to 4000 public post offices. The moratorium covers 364 offices staffed by members of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) and 3603 offices staffed by members of the Canadian Postmasters and Assistants Association.

There is no doubt that our campaign work contributed to the decision to keep the moratorium.

Background

In August 2005, CUPW launched a general campaign against closures, privatization and deregulation and a specific campaign against Canada Post's plans to close down the mail processing plant in Quebec City. In January 2006, the union increased pressure with its Operation Transparency campaign, which demanded Canada Post's plans for our public post office. After the Conservatives were elected in February 2006, CUPW also focused its efforts on the new government.

Three key objectives

The union wrote to all members of Parliament and asked that they write to Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Lawrence Cannon, Minister Responsible for Canada Post, urging that:

1. the moratorium on rural post office closures put into place by the Liberal government in 1994 be continued and expanded to include urban offices;
2. the plan to close the Quebec City mail sorting plant be reviewed as promised by the Conservative Party prior to the election;
3. all documents relating to Canada Post’s national network review and its overall plan for our public post office be made available for a full and open debate.

Have we reached these objectives? An assessment follows.

1) Moratorium

The government has directed Canada Post to keep the moratorium on post office closures in rural and small towns. CUPW will continue to put pressure on the government to expand the moratorium to include urban offices and stop rural closures that have continued to happen despite the moratorium.

2) Plant closure in Quebec City

On June 12, Lawrence Cannon, the Minister Responsible for Canada Post told the House of Commons that the government had decided to proceed with the closure. He said, "the members of Parliament and ministers from the Quebec City area did fulfill their election promises by thoroughly reviewing and examining the closure issue." He also said he had "obtained from Canada Post that no employee or manager will lose their jobs and that the quality of mail delivery in that area will be improved."

CUPW will continue our efforts to stop the closure of the Quebec City mail processing plant and keep jobs and service in Quebec.

CUPW has written to Minister Cannon to ask him for the information he obtained from Canada Post. The union has asked him to explain how he determined that mail delivery would improve, given that the plant is not yet fully closed.

As well, we have suggested that Minister Cannon work with the union, parliamentarians and others on an independent assessment of mail delivery in Quebec City and Eastern Quebec if the plant is actually closed. We want a new facility to process mail from Quebec City and Eastern Quebec once this assessment shows that service is indeed suffering.

3) Canada Post's plans

Canada Post President Moya Green has refused to release the corporation's overall plans for our public post office and its plans for the national network review. Ms. Greene says that she does not have a plan. She says she is approaching facilities on a case-by-case basis.

CUPW has written to Ms. Greene to ask her if she has plans to review particular cases in the next two to three years. We have asked her if she intends to respect CUPW's collective agreement to notify the union of changes, such as closures, as far in advance as possible of changes. The corporation knew it would be closing the Quebec City plant in February 2005. It did not notify the union until August 2005, nor did it engage in meaningful consultation.
CUPW will continue to build on the success of Operation Transparency and our June 19 mobilization and will keep trying to convince Canada Post to make its plans public.

As well, the union has asked Minister Cannon and Ms. Greene for information relating to the review that the government is conducting of the financial and policy framework it uses for Canada Post. Changes to the policy framework could undermine universal, public postal service as we know it.