Dear Sisters and Brothers,

As a union, UPCE’s first priority is to protect the standard of living and job security of its members. In 2010 and beyond, that means we must work to shape a viable future for the Postal Service and the membership of UPCE, helping to decide how it will thrive and serve the Canadian people.

There has been a major debate going on for quite some time regarding the future of Canada Post. Should we deregulate and/or privatize the Postal System in Canada? Other countries have made the mistake of privatizing their postal system and in most cases it was rather devastating to the public and the people of that country.

The Harper Government, the Board of Directors and the CEO of Canada Post continue to push their right wing agenda towards the deregulation and privatization of your public post office. It is even suggested that this will help create more jobs and better profits for the progress of the modern post. UPCE and other postal unions around the world know this is not the case.

Which workers do they speak about? The fact is the workers and the jobs they speak about are actually low paying non-union jobs and certainly won’t be UPCE jobs. The profits they speak of will only go to increase their already high salaries and inflated bonuses. This money will never make it to the workers. It rarely does.

Ironically, a few decades ago, the IPS report said CEOs usually took home about 30 or 40 times that of a worker, but, in 2008, top executives on average scooped up a whopping 319 times more than the average U.S. worker.

While these statistics are from the U.S., they are similar and close to the reality of Corporate Canada. We should ask ourselves, does it make sense in this global recession that the average UPCE worker makes approximately $48,000 a year with a potential of making a 4% bonus (CTI) and another 3% on (IPI) for a potential of 7%, while the CEO of Canada Post is making in bonuses alone a hundred thousand more than the average workers of Canada Post Corporation.

The salary of Ms Green, according to an article in the Calgary Sun published February 15, 2010, Canada Post Corporation would only disclose a salary range ($416,200 to $489,700) and a bonus range (a rate of up to 33%) meaning a maximum bonus of $161, 601. WOW, that’s a sweet deal in a time of global recession.

I am sure I do not need to remind everyone what happened during our negotiations of 2008. We were told that Canada Post Corporation was going broke and they needed some serious changes in order to make their modern post a success. The sad part was when it came time to finding a solution to their so-called economic situation at Canada Post, they imposed cuts and roll-backs on us by taking away our sick leave, family-related leave and gave us a lower than cost-of-living economic salary increase.

They will use all and any excuse to protect their elite, fat cat status and stop at nothing to take more money out of workers’ pockets. Their giant pay packets in my view are unethical and unsustainable, and that the fixing of CEO pay was a “racket”.

As the global economy makes a slow recovery after the worst recession since the Great Depression, decision makers should put the economy on a sustainable footing. The important lesson to be learned is that working people bailed out the financial system and that has enabled the recovery to take place. Now, we expect a shift from market fundamentalism to a new era of social responsibility on everything ranging from business values to CEO pay.

They often remind us of the skyrocketing cost of pensions, health care and benefits to a level that Canada Post claims they cannot sustain in this global economic meltdown. Perhaps, a serious pay review for the 12th floor at Canada Post might be in order to help them pay for these rising costs.

Unfortunately, their solution to fix the rising cost of pensions and benefits is to increase the cost and put the brunt of it on the workers’ backs or they will simply take it away and make the changes to fit their right wing agenda. Yet, neither the Board of Directors nor the CEO of Canada Post have made any cuts to their already high salaries or inflated bonuses. I am sure they are not affected by the so-called financial situation at Canada Post.

The truth is, until ALL the members of UPCE at Canada Post have had enough and start taking action to stop the insanity of losing jobs and not receiving our fair share of the pie, Canada Post will continue to abuse us, financially and mentally, as they have in the past.

We must stand united and strong because to do otherwise will be the last thing we do.

UPCE/PSAC has worked shoulder to shoulder with the CLC and other unions (including CUPW and UNI Global Union) to fight for the future of Canada Post.

What are you doing to protect your jobs, work and Canada Post?

We must continue to work together to put political pressure on our politicians to show them the benefit of keeping Canada Post a public company, We know the benefit because we live it every day in large major centers or in rural areas. We are the workers that know what the postal office needs and what the public want for service from their public Post Office.

A win on this front in our battle to secure the future for UPCE and the future of Canada Post is crucial to maintain our working lives.

Finding a brighter future!

In my next newsletter, I’ll touch upon the future of UPCE and what needs to be done to continue supporting and properly representing the membership….

Stay Tuned…

Richard L. Des Lauriers
National President

Up-Coming Events

PSAC 2010 Pride Conference

As you are aware, the 2010 PSAC National Pride Conference will be held March 26 to 28, 2010 at the Hilton Hotel in Toronto under the theme “Equality : are we there yet?

The deadline for applications and resolutions of January 15, 2010 is fast approaching.

Please find attached the call-out in both French and English as well as the link to complete the registration form on-line on our website.

http://www.psac.com/conferences/2010/pride_fierte/home-e.shtml

Thank you.