HONK IF YOU WANT YOUR WEED
November 28, 2018 1:01 PM Subscribe
Well, that's one way to rally support.
Canada Post workers have been off contract and on strike since October, and negotiations are going nowhere. Canada Post attempted to negotiate a "cooling-off period" to coincide with the peak of the holiday shipping season (and thus perhaps to fend off customers' ire), but this was rejected by the union.
Rotating postal strikes have ended after the passage of back-to-work legislation, but it is not clear whether the legislation was, in fact, constitutional. Previous similar legislation was ultimately ruled an infringement of the Charter. The Union of Postal Workers continues to call for "non-violent civil disobedience." A Day of Action has been scheduled for December 1st, and alternative plans for disability cheques are being made, following delays in last month's cheques. During the debate over back-to-work legislation, Minister Patty Hajdu related the story of a disabled man named "Jack" who was unable to receive his government assistance due to the strike, but it is unclear whether "Jack" actually exists. (Oddly enough, there is a story of a man named Jack having issues with disability cheques in 2010 for non-strike-related reasons.) A Canada Post worker claims that delays in cheque delivery were the fault of Canada Post management, who intentionally held the cheques.
CUPW statements further argue that Canada Post "manufactured" a crisis to encourage the passage of back-to-work legislation. Canada Post is claiming serious backlogs that may not be cleared until March; CUPW claims that backlogs should be cleared "in about a week." Canada Post is additionally warning of large financial losses for Q3 related, in part, to implementation of a pay-equity order from the last time its workers went on strike.
Acceptance of international mail was halted for a time, but has now resumed. Users on Twitter are reporting unusual reroutings or endless loop delays. Canada Post is still allowing customers to purchase 'expedited' package shipping, though backlogs would seem to have rendered that concept void for the foreseeable future. One woman's phone was lost, and insufficient postal insurance left her out $1000, though the phone's manufacturer subsequently replaced her phone for free after the media coverage. An Edmonton-based artist reported a truly sad fate for one of his artworks which got stuck in the strike backlog and appears, subsequently, to have been run over by a truck.
As to be expected, there are so very many memes, some involving Gritty but most involving The Grinch Who Stole Christmas. CUPW supporters counter with a Grinch meme of their own. Grinch accusations or no, Canada Post says that kids should still mail out their letters to Santa, despite the strikes.
Canada Post workers have been off contract and on strike since October, and negotiations are going nowhere. Canada Post attempted to negotiate a "cooling-off period" to coincide with the peak of the holiday shipping season (and thus perhaps to fend off customers' ire), but this was rejected by the union.
Rotating postal strikes have ended after the passage of back-to-work legislation, but it is not clear whether the legislation was, in fact, constitutional. Previous similar legislation was ultimately ruled an infringement of the Charter. The Union of Postal Workers continues to call for "non-violent civil disobedience." A Day of Action has been scheduled for December 1st, and alternative plans for disability cheques are being made, following delays in last month's cheques. During the debate over back-to-work legislation, Minister Patty Hajdu related the story of a disabled man named "Jack" who was unable to receive his government assistance due to the strike, but it is unclear whether "Jack" actually exists. (Oddly enough, there is a story of a man named Jack having issues with disability cheques in 2010 for non-strike-related reasons.) A Canada Post worker claims that delays in cheque delivery were the fault of Canada Post management, who intentionally held the cheques.
CUPW statements further argue that Canada Post "manufactured" a crisis to encourage the passage of back-to-work legislation. Canada Post is claiming serious backlogs that may not be cleared until March; CUPW claims that backlogs should be cleared "in about a week." Canada Post is additionally warning of large financial losses for Q3 related, in part, to implementation of a pay-equity order from the last time its workers went on strike.
Acceptance of international mail was halted for a time, but has now resumed. Users on Twitter are reporting unusual reroutings or endless loop delays. Canada Post is still allowing customers to purchase 'expedited' package shipping, though backlogs would seem to have rendered that concept void for the foreseeable future. One woman's phone was lost, and insufficient postal insurance left her out $1000, though the phone's manufacturer subsequently replaced her phone for free after the media coverage. An Edmonton-based artist reported a truly sad fate for one of his artworks which got stuck in the strike backlog and appears, subsequently, to have been run over by a truck.
As to be expected, there are so very many memes, some involving Gritty but most involving The Grinch Who Stole Christmas. CUPW supporters counter with a Grinch meme of their own. Grinch accusations or no, Canada Post says that kids should still mail out their letters to Santa, despite the strikes.
Whoops: that last meme link should go to this pro-union tweet. Got sloppy with the copy/pasting there.
posted by halation at 1:07 PM on November 28, 2018
posted by halation at 1:07 PM on November 28, 2018
It seems not that smart of previous management to have negotiated a contract that ended in October.
Dudes, here's my free advice. Make the next contract expire in February.
The previous contract expired January 31 of last year.
posted by rocket88 at 1:15 PM on November 28, 2018 [2 favorites]
Dudes, here's my free advice. Make the next contract expire in February.
The previous contract expired January 31 of last year.
posted by rocket88 at 1:15 PM on November 28, 2018 [2 favorites]
The previous contract expired January 31 of last year.
Yeah. When i read couple of the articles it was a bit clearer. Per the OP here, they've been on rotating strikes since October but indeed they've been off contract a lot longer.
It seems like a whole year would be enough time to negotiate an agreement, but shows what I know.
posted by GuyZero at 1:35 PM on November 28, 2018
Yeah. When i read couple of the articles it was a bit clearer. Per the OP here, they've been on rotating strikes since October but indeed they've been off contract a lot longer.
It seems like a whole year would be enough time to negotiate an agreement, but shows what I know.
posted by GuyZero at 1:35 PM on November 28, 2018
Would note that the "disability cheques" in one of the links are for ODSP (Ontario Disability Support Program), so they aren't federal in nature. But Ontario Premier Doug Ford is boring ahead with a plan to kick people off ODSP, so it may be a moot point in the long run. The "Jack" scenario is for OAS (Old Age Security), a federal pension benefit. The other "Jack" was the recipient of a disability pension from ICBC (BC's public auto insurer).
Geez. That "Jack" feller really gets around, eh?
But Canada Post knows they just have to wait until federal back-to-work legislation kicks in, and they can continue bargaining in bad faith.
Canada Post is still allowing customers to purchase 'expedited' package shipping, though backlogs would seem to have rendered that concept void for the foreseeable future.
Here in Toronto, we've been getting mail on the regular and pretty much on time, and I've sent packages out via Canada Post (including one for Secret Quonsar, which made it out of Canada and to the US in three business days) that have or are on their way to getting where they're going. When I inquired about my shipping options, the postie advised me, "Yeah, you can get expedited if you want, but trust me it's not worth the money right now." So I just did regular shipping with tracking.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 1:45 PM on November 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
Geez. That "Jack" feller really gets around, eh?
But Canada Post knows they just have to wait until federal back-to-work legislation kicks in, and they can continue bargaining in bad faith.
Canada Post is still allowing customers to purchase 'expedited' package shipping, though backlogs would seem to have rendered that concept void for the foreseeable future.
Here in Toronto, we've been getting mail on the regular and pretty much on time, and I've sent packages out via Canada Post (including one for Secret Quonsar, which made it out of Canada and to the US in three business days) that have or are on their way to getting where they're going. When I inquired about my shipping options, the postie advised me, "Yeah, you can get expedited if you want, but trust me it's not worth the money right now." So I just did regular shipping with tracking.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 1:45 PM on November 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
It seems like a whole year would be enough time to negotiate an agreement, but shows what I know.
Yeah the collective agreements for the federal public service are often expired for a long time before a new agreement is reached and the standard duration is four years (in order to ensure that the types of provisions in them don't get too out of sync with the rest of the public service), meaning that many times they have to start all over again right after an agreement is signed.
Where I work our collective agreement expired in August 2014 and was only finally signed on May 31, 2018. It was only in effect until August 2018 and now they are back at the negotiating table.
posted by urbanlenny at 1:48 PM on November 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
Yeah the collective agreements for the federal public service are often expired for a long time before a new agreement is reached and the standard duration is four years (in order to ensure that the types of provisions in them don't get too out of sync with the rest of the public service), meaning that many times they have to start all over again right after an agreement is signed.
Where I work our collective agreement expired in August 2014 and was only finally signed on May 31, 2018. It was only in effect until August 2018 and now they are back at the negotiating table.
posted by urbanlenny at 1:48 PM on November 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
i confess that part of my motivation for this post is to get a sense of how/whether Canadian MeFites are impacted by the rotating actions
posted by halation at 2:26 PM on November 28, 2018
posted by halation at 2:26 PM on November 28, 2018
Here in Toronto, we've been getting mail on the regular and pretty much on time,
Same. I… kinda forgot there was a strike on.
posted by rodlymight at 2:51 PM on November 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
Same. I… kinda forgot there was a strike on.
posted by rodlymight at 2:51 PM on November 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
> Dudes, here's my free advice. Make the next contract expire in February.
I was working at the CBC during the lockout in 2005, which started in mid-August. The word around the picket line was that we just had to hold out until hockey season started in early October and they'd fold because they couldn't afford to forgo all the money HNIC brought in, which is exactly what happened.
I too live in Toronto and have received certain completely legal packages in the mail more or less when I expected them to arrive.
posted by The Card Cheat at 3:18 PM on November 28, 2018
I was working at the CBC during the lockout in 2005, which started in mid-August. The word around the picket line was that we just had to hold out until hockey season started in early October and they'd fold because they couldn't afford to forgo all the money HNIC brought in, which is exactly what happened.
I too live in Toronto and have received certain completely legal packages in the mail more or less when I expected them to arrive.
posted by The Card Cheat at 3:18 PM on November 28, 2018
The strikes were annoying - it took two weeks for my OCS delivery to arrive, as opposed to the 3-5 business days that is normal. I'm in a smallish town an hour out of Toronto.
Annoying as it was, however, I disagree with back to work legislation.
posted by dazed_one at 3:47 PM on November 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
Annoying as it was, however, I disagree with back to work legislation.
posted by dazed_one at 3:47 PM on November 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
There was a nice discussion about this with my new senator Paula Simons on CBC radio today (here, bottom of the page). She had an interesting and thoughtful rationale for her token vote against the back-to-work legislation, although the interview is mainly about her live-tweeting the special sitting.
posted by figurant at 3:55 PM on November 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by figurant at 3:55 PM on November 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
halation, my mail's been getting to me without issue, as far as I know, maybe delayed a day or two based on the packages I got shipped (I've definitely been getting plenty of status updates that say it might be delayed). Hard to say really. I'm in downtown Ottawa.
posted by quaking fajita at 4:22 PM on November 28, 2018
posted by quaking fajita at 4:22 PM on November 28, 2018
From today: Members of other labour groups set up picket-lines at the Pacific Processing Centre in Richmond
posted by Canageek at 5:21 PM on November 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by Canageek at 5:21 PM on November 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
And I just got a package that was due to arrive next Monday, so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
posted by figurant at 5:38 PM on November 28, 2018
posted by figurant at 5:38 PM on November 28, 2018
I've been mostly getting my packages on time (in some cases lightning fast) as long as it's coming from within Canada. I have several packages that are stuck in their country of origin. As long as they are going to get to me eventually (including one thing I ordered as a self-designed custom on Etsy that is currently stuck in Spain that I'm quite worried about) it's cool.
posted by urbanlenny at 6:18 PM on November 28, 2018
posted by urbanlenny at 6:18 PM on November 28, 2018
I understand the Harper-installed senior management are the problem. They were hired to streamline Canada Post to sell it. Chipping away at worker protection is bad.
posted by scruss at 8:08 PM on November 28, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by scruss at 8:08 PM on November 28, 2018 [4 favorites]
There's a mail-in referrendum on Proportional Representation here in BC that relies entirely on Canada Post and has taken place in its entirety during the strike. They've only had to extend the mail-in deadline by 7 days so it doesn't seem like BC is experiencing any significant delays.
posted by Pseudology at 9:09 AM on November 29, 2018
posted by Pseudology at 9:09 AM on November 29, 2018
Outstanding post.
Another point is that Purolator is owned by Canada Post, so when people get scared that their Christmas package won't get there in time via regular parcel, many of them will go to Purolator and pay the same company a higher price to do it with a different (non-unionized) workforce. Seems a bit shady to me.
posted by arcticwoman at 1:51 PM on November 29, 2018
Another point is that Purolator is owned by Canada Post, so when people get scared that their Christmas package won't get there in time via regular parcel, many of them will go to Purolator and pay the same company a higher price to do it with a different (non-unionized) workforce. Seems a bit shady to me.
posted by arcticwoman at 1:51 PM on November 29, 2018
« Older He's on smoko. Leave him alone. | "If I had my way, I’d stomp people like you into... Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
Dudes, here's my free advice. Make the next contract expire in February.
posted by GuyZero at 1:05 PM on November 28, 2018 [2 favorites]