MFUR President Paul Moist wrote to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau today on the Canada Post labour dispute.
Read the full letter below:
The Right Honorable Justin Trudeau Sent via email
Prime Minister of Canada
Office of the Prime Minister
80 Wellington Street
OTTAWA, ON K1A 0A2
Dear Prime Minister Trudeau:
Re: Canada Post Labour Dispute
I write on behalf of the Manitoba of Federation of Union Retirees
(MFUR), we are the Manitoba affiliate of the 500,000 member Congress of Union Retirees of Canada (CURC).
The current dispute at Canada Post sees postal workers trying to resist concessionary demands from Canada Post management. Two more significant management demands are:
• A demand that package delivery services be extended to a seven day-a-week operation and that workers performing these duties, on weekends, be classified as permanent part-time employees.
Your government has professed to be one that supports Canadian workers. The creation of part-time jobs to deliver full-time, seven day-a-week operations is unacceptable.
There are no part-time mortgages or family food bills facing Canadian workers. The proposed creation of a permanent underclass of Canada Post employees is a major
impediment to concluding the current job action.
• Related to the above proposal is another Canada Post demand that these permanent part-time parcel delivery workers will not become members of the existing Canada Post defined benefit pension plan. They will be enrolled in an inferior defined contribution plan where all the risk will rest on the shoulders of the worker.
"This too is unacceptable, especially when one considers that Canada Post, as an employer, has been in a contribution holiday, due to the plan’s surplus funding status,
since mid-2023.
.
I learned in my university studies some 50 years ago, that when it comes to federal crown entities, “they…are amendable to final control by Parliament and the public since they are
instruments of public policy.” (Source: The Structure of Canadian Government, J. R. Mallory,
1971, Macmillan).
In my working career, I have been appointed to the boards of two of Manitoba’s major Crown Corporations, Manitoba Public Insurance and Manitoba Hydro. I recognized my fiduciary duty
to the crown entity, and the fact that I was responsible to the sole shareholder, the government of Manitoba. The government’s view on major issues is of paramount importance to the board the government itself appoints.
In the current dispute you have a responsibility to both respect the free collective bargaining process and when required, direct the Board that you have handpicked and appointed.
I note of late, your increasing practice of stepping into bargaining at Canada’s ports and railways, to use your governments words, “in the public interest”. MFUR rejects your use of the Canada Labour Code to shelve charter-protected free collective bargaining rights.
At Canada Post, you have an opportunity, in the public interest, to direct the Board you appointed to remove concessionary demands from the bargaining table to clear the way to a
negotiated settlement. We urge you to do so.
Yours truly,
Paul Moist, President
Manitoba Federation of Union Retirees
cc: All MP’s
Canadian Labour Congress
Congress of Union Retirees of Canada