2 messages, 214 lines:

(1)----------------------
Date: 25 Nov 1997 15:01:51 +0000
From: Fiona McPherson <Fiona.McPherson@fct-cf.x400.gc.ca>
Subject: Postal strike in Canada -Reply

I'm at the Federal Court Library in Ottawa. The postal strike has been
going on since last Wednesday, after management's head negotiator pushed
the union's head negotiator down, flat on his face - twice, Tuesday night
- in a hotel room where they were supposed to be negotiating "in good
faith".

Of course, the talks broke down and the posties went on strike. Management
(Canada Post) immediately replaced their top negotiator, but the posties
weren't happy. Talks were rumoured to have continued today after the
government appointed an arbitrator. Both sides are saying they are far
from close to settling the dispute which is mainly over changes in postal
routes, wages and lay-offs for down-sizing. Canada Post is losing
customers and thousands of dollars daily. Not to mention the Christmas
rush. The feeling here is that a postal strike today is much less painful
than in the olden days (say ten years ago) when we didn't use fax machines
or email so much. Still, bills must be paid, and cheques sent. We aren't
all EDI compatible as yet. Christmas presents may be a little tardy this
year since they haven't been ethered yet, either.

Here in our acquisitions section, we are crossing our fingers that a) U.S.
suppliers know of the strike and are using cheap courier service, b) that
the strike won't last long - most people don't think it will, and c) that
anything in the mail at the time of the strike will one day get delivered.

If I were you, I would not put anything Canadian bound in the mail until
the strike is over. If you need something from Canada, see if you can make
special arrangements will the supplier for the interim with a cheap
courier service such as UPS, Purolator, etc. Otherwise, if you can wait
another week, I would say, wait.

Best of Luck
Fiona A. McPherson
Collection Development Librarian
Federal Court of Canada Library
(this is _only my_opinion of the status of talks, etc.)

(2)-------------------------
Date:     01 Dec 1997 10:33
From:     Birdie MacLennan <bmaclenn@zoo.uvm.edu>
Subject:  Postal strike in Canada

FYI, more news from the weekend, this item is forwarded from the _Montreal
Gazette_ (web version).  -bml

http://www.montrealgazette.com/ARCHIVES/971129canada1.html

                                        November 29, 1997

Ottawa to end strike

by April Lindgren, Ottawa Citizen

OTTAWA The Canadian Union of Postal workers is threatening to disrupt road
and airport traffic beginning Monday if the federal government proceeds
with back-to-work legislation to end the 11-day-old postal strike.

"Postal workers will resist this legislation and there will be massive
civil disobedience in this country starting next week with the
introduction of the legislation," CUPW president Darrell Tingley said
yesterday.

Tingley's threats came just hours after Labour Minister Lawrence MacAulay
announced that last-ditch mediation efforts had failed to bridge the
differences between Canada Post and the CUPW. He said back-to-work
legislation would be introduced Monday in the House of Commons.

With the NDP signaling its intention to oppose the proposed order, it will
probably be the end of the week before the legislation clears the House
and the Senate and more than week before the mail again starts to flow.

Tingley said the union would wait to see the legislation before deciding
whether CUPW's 45,000 striking members will go along with it. But he said
the civil disobedience is necessary to counter an attack on "free
collective bargaining in this country."

The union says it is fighting to save 4,000 full-time jobs in a country
where the jobless rate is already high and to win full-time work for
people who have worked part-time for years.

Canada Post argues that changes are required to make workers more
productive so it can compete in an era of fax machines, electronic mail
and cut-throat courier competition.

Postal workers were legislated back to work in 1991, 1987 and 1978 and the
government has imposed steep fines on strikers and unions for disobeying
back-to-work legislation.

Tingley received a suspended sentence after the 1978 strike for failing to
get workers back on the job. Jean-Claude Parrot, CUPW president at the
time, was sentenced to a term in jail.

This latest showdown came after almost eight months of fruitless
negotiations. The two sides agreed Monday to work with mediator Warren
Edmondson, but after a week of long nights, Edmondson told the government
yesterday that no deal was possible.

"The dispute is not ripe they are not ready to settle and it would be
fruitless for me at this point to continue my involvement,"  Edmondson
told reporters. "I'm not particularly surprised. There's a lot of
acrimony. It's very tense. There's a lot of history to the industrial
relations here, as you know, and I think both sides at some point are
going to have to give their heads a good shake and talk about what kind of
business relationship they want to have in the future if they want to
survive."

In Montreal, the mood was surprisingly upbeat on the picket line outside
the main sorting centre on Ottawa St.

"We'll go back to work, but the climate will not be that great," warned
Jean-Claude Galarneau, who works in the Priority Post section at the St.
Laurent sorting centre.

"We didn't want to strike, but we had no choice," said Marlene Jones, who
like Galarneau earns about $700 every two weeks working 20 hours a week.

"The situation was not great when we went out on strike and it won't be
any better if we are forced back to work," Jones added.

Legislating an end to the strike is "outrageous," said Andr� Frappier,
president of the 6,000-member Montreal local of CUPW.

"This was the game plan from the beginning. Canada Post refused to
negotiate and waited for the government to intervene."

Postal workers say they are fearful of the impact on their working
conditions if the post office goes ahead with plans to cut 4,000 full-time
jobs. Canada Post's 45,000 employees already include 9,000 temporary
workers and 8,000 part-timers.

"Job security is our main concern," Frappier said.

The back-to-work legislation will solve Canada Post's immediate problem
the loss of $17 million in business each day. And Canada Post's chief
negotiator, Raymond Poirier, said Canadians will also benefit from the
resumption of mail service.

But he acknowledged that legislating an end to the strike "is not helpful"
to the long-term relationship between the union and management.

In announcing the government's decision, MacAulay held out the hope that
union and management negotiators would meet again on the weekend and come
up with a collective agreement. But none of the parties seemed to think
there was much chance this could happen.

The Reform Party has been demanding a legislated end to the strike since
it began Nov. 19 and MP Jim Gouk applauded the government's decision.

"I'm glad the government has finally seen the folly of what they were
doing and responded not only to the Reform Party, but to millions of
Canadians who have been calling on them" to get the mail moving, he said.

The Canadian Federation of Independent Business said this week the strike
costs small and medium-size businesses about $200 million a day. The
Canadian Direct Mail Association says direct mail and catalogue businesses
are losing $40 million a day.

NDP labour critic Pat Martin, however, said his party would not help speed
passage of the bill through Parliament.

"I didn't come to Ottawa to vote away workers' right to strike," said the
Winnipeg MP, who worked for a trade union before being elected last
spring.

Martin predicted introducing back-to-work legislation yet again "will
condemn Canadians to years more of this kind of hostility."

Suzanne Tremblay of the Bloc Qu�b�cois said her party will wait to see the
proposed legislation before deciding whether to co-operate with the
government.

While Edmondson said money is a problem in the current impasse, he also
indicated disagreement over the way letter-carriers deliver the mail
remains a major stumbling block.

In an independent review of Canada Post in 1996, George Radwanski cited
paid travel time for lunch and lifetime job security as examples of how
Canada Post's collective agreements are out of sync with today's
workplace.

"Most Canadians would undoubtedly be of the view that it is reasonable to
expect a full day's work for a full day's pay, a practice which is often
not the case under the current agreements at Canada Post," his report
said.

The union says the post office's demands for route changes will mean more
work, more on-the-job injuries and job losses. But Canada Post says it
needs to improve productivity to survive in a more competitive world one
in which it is expected to pay income tax plus dividends worth $292
million to the federal government over the next five years.

Critics including the Liberals when they were in opposition say the post
office should not be a cash cow for government, but should just break even
while supplying quality mail delivery.

On the monetary side, the union has demanded a 10-per-cent wage increase
over two years 3 per cent each year plus a cost-of-living allowance.
Canada Post has offered a 1.5-per-cent increase this year, 1.75 per cent
next year and 2 per cent in 1999, plus cost-of-living allowance protection
each year. Letter-carriers and postal clerks earn a base salary of $17.41
an hour.

irwin block of the gazette contributed to this report