December 8, 2008
Negotiations with Canada Post
News release
Canada Post has serious credibility issues
Ottawa – Contradictory messages from Canada Post make for difficult negotiations at the bargaining table, according to the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) the union representing more than 2,100 employees currently on strike against Canada Post.
“Canada Post says publicly that they don't want to reduce the employees' sick leave while they send emails rejoicing at the possibility of cutting sick leave in half,” said John Gordon, the PSAC National President.
Gordon was referring to a letter to the Ottawa Citizen signed by Mary Traversy, CPC Senior Vice-President Operations and Human Resources on November 26, 2008. In the letter she says:
“It (a newspaper article) wrongly declared that Canada Post wants to "roll back sick leave and eventually phase it out. The idea that we would seek to eliminate sick leave flies in the face of our history.”
This statement contradicts an email sent by Mary Traversy on November 28, 2008 to her senior management team at Canada Post. In the email, Traversy writes:
“The change we are trying to make with psac (sic) could be the biggest driver of improvement we have ever seen at CPC. Imagine cutting sick leave in half!”
Gordon also said that Canada Post Corporation is misleading Canadians about the quality of mail delivery during the current strike by the 2 100 members of the PSAC.
In an aggressive public relations campaign, CPC tells Canadians that mail delivery has not been affected by the strike while it tells the courts of justice in Ontario, British-Columbia, Nova Scotia and other provinces that mail delivery has been seriously hindered by the strike.
For Gordon, those messages constitute an impediment to the negotiation of a fair collective agreement and create a climate of distrust at the bargaining table.
“This may explain”, Gordon said, “why labour relations have always been fraught with distrust and tension at Canada Post.”
PSAC members voted 88% in favour of strike action and have been on strike since November 17, 2008.
To arrange media interviews:
Alain Cossette, PSAC Communications 613-293-9210
77-081208
Date Modified : 2010/01/29
