PSAC members at Canada Post vote
in favour of strike

OTTAWA - Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) members working at Canada Post have voted in favour of strike action should the current contract talks be unsuccessful. The more than 2,800 workers have given their bargaining team a mandate to launch strike action, if necessary, to obtain a new collective agreement.

The vote amongst the bargaining unit, two-thirds of whom are women, took place across the country between November 19 and 26. The bargaining team asked the membership for a strike mandate to put pressure on Canada Post to address the members’ priority issues and reach a fair and equitable agreement. The parties resume negotiations today with the assistance of a conciliator.

"With this clear mandate in our pocket, we are confident that Canada Post will approach the next phase of the negotiations with more seriousness" indicated Luc Guevremont, President of the PSAC Union of Postal Communications Employees (UPCE). "We have repeated many times that our members want protection of bargaining unit work, protection against contracting-out of their work, and, improvements to their conditions of employment. In fact, we have seen a dramatic reduction of approximately 200 positions in the last 3 months. Furthermore, the employer’s proposal for a new job evaluation plan would introduce inequity into the treatment of the various groups of workers."

"Moreover," added Guevremont, "at this point in time you have to question the way Canada Post treats its workers. During these current negotiations, Canada Post, by refusing our demands to improve employment security for our members, continues to provide evidence of a discriminatory attitude against this group. We do not feel the employer has the same respect for our members as shown towards other groups at Canada Post. Is this because we represent a membership that is composed of mainly women? I hope that Canada Post management is more progressive than this, but, until now they have given us no proof to contradict our impressions."

The PSAC/UPCE and Canada Post started negotiating on September 17. The parties entered conciliation on October 25 and meetings took place until November 16.

The Public Service Alliance of Canada represents some 2,800 employees at the Canada Post Corporation, who provide customer service and perform administrative, financial, technical and professional duties. The collective agreement expired on October 30, 2001.

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Information: Luc Guevremont, National President, PSAC UPCE, (613) 560-4342

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