Mr. Chopra,

On behalf of the 56,000 members of CUPW and PSAC working at Canada Post, we write to welcome you to your new position, and to outline the concerns of our members regarding our public postal service.

In recent years, we have seen dramatic cuts to service as senior managers have focused on commercial rather than public interest objectives. Post offices have been closed, red mailboxes have been removed from our streets and rural mailbox delivery has been taken away; all with very little in the way of notice or consultation.

Additional attacks on our public postal service will occur if management continues in this current direction. Canada Post is investing $2 billion in a modernization program that further threatens services and jobs. The corporation also plans on privatizing the National Philatelic and customer contact centres. These actions all run counter to our collective role in providing a quality public postal service.

CUPW and PSAC hope that you, as the new President, will take a less commercial and more socially responsible approach as you manage our public post office in the years to come.

We believe any roadmap for the future should include the following:

• A management that understands that Canada Post is, first and foremost, a public service.
• A respect for Canada Post's legislated mandate to provide and improve postal service while being financially self-sustaining and ensuring good labour-management relations.
• An end to the cuts and privatization, including the National Philatelic and customer contact centres. This could be done by sharing the benefits and cost savings of modernization with the public and postal workers.
• A commitment to work with the federal government to dramatically improve government policy and expectations for Canada Post, as outlined in the Canadian Postal Service Charter. One month's notice of a postal closure is neither sufficient nor responsive to the needs of communities.

We hope we can count on your support.

[original signed]

Denis Lemelin
National President
Canadian Union of Postal Workers

John Gordon
National President
Public Service Alliance of Canada