National Grievance File

The Canadian Union of Postal Workers finds that the Corporation has failed to abide by Appendix “P” of the collective agreement by not maintaining the ratio of regular full-time employees at 78 %, in violation of paragraph 1 (b) of this Appendix, and by not creating the required number of regular full-time employees, as set out in paragraph 2 (d). Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, CUPW submits more specifically that the Corporation is violating the provisions of Appendix “P” of the collective agreement by abolishing regular full-time positions during the periods covered by Appendix “P”. CUPW maintains that these are deliberate violations of the collective agreement. The Corporation’s actions also violate clauses 39.02, 39.03 and 39.06 of the collective agreement.

The Canadian Union of Postal Workers was advised a few days ago that the Canada Post Corporation has decided to implement the method of carrying the double bundle held back-to-back in the hand as the official work method for letter carriers.

In implementing this work method, the Corporation is violating the provisions of the collective agreement, the Canada Labour Code and the Canada Occupational Health and Safety Regulations, namely clauses 33.01 and 33.02 of the collective agreement, sections 122.1, 122.2 and 124 of the Code and sections 19.1 and 19.5 of the Regulations.

Further, the Corporation is clearly acting in bad faith, given the arbitration awards rendered with respect to health and safety matters over the past few years, namely decisions rendered by Arbitrator Burkett in the matter of Grievance N00-07-00032, and the findings of the July 2015 Golder Report on letter carrier work methods. 

In so doing, the Corporation continues to deliberately compromise the health and safety of its employees, giving rise to a claim for damages for prejudice incurred and exemplary damages resulting from a deliberate violation of the legislation and the collective agreement.

Letter Carrier Route Measurement System (LCRMS)

Canada Post Corporation (CPC) is in violation of the collective agreement and of the Letter Carrier Route Measurement System (LCRMS) as a result of its refusal to capture in appropriate locations the information to be recorded during volume counts of non-automated sites. This is especially so with respect to redirected mail, oversize redirected mail, low density DRS pulls, medium density DRS pulls and high density DRS pulls. By proceeding in this manner, the Corporation does not attribute all the time values to restructured routes. Moreover, the Corporation refuses to log the two versions of conflicting data when this dispute is raised by the Union observer.

Employees who have successfully completed the Apprenticeship Training Program are to be paid at the maximum MAM-11 Apprentice hourly rate of pay until they obtain a MAM-11 position and are to remain members of Group 3. The Employer has violated the Collective Agreement by unilaterally reclassifying these employees upon their successful completion of the Apprenticeship Program, not paying them at the appropriate wage rates, returning them to the classification they previously held prior to their apprenticeship and wrongfully deleting positions from the bargaining unit.

In doing so Canada Post has violated Articles 13, 40, 53, Appendix “A”, Appendix “T” and all other related Articles as well as the past practice.

Additionally, Canada Post is estopped from taking such actions in light of the prior representations to the affected employees and the Union that employees who successfully complete the Apprenticeship Program would remain members of Group 3. 

The Canadian Union of Postal Workers grieves that Canada Post is in violation of article 33 and other applicable articles of the collective agreement and the provisions of the Canada Labour Code in that it is refusing to allow Union representation during the completion of the Supervisor's Accident Investigation Report (SAIR) form and the completion of injury-on-duty forms by employees.

The Canadian Union of Postal Workers grieves that the Corporation has violated articles 9, 50 and other applicable articles and appendices of the collective agreement in that it has adopted and maintained a policy that has verifications conducted under article 50 carried out over a five (5)-day period.

CUPW and the Corporation have an agreement for assessing the workload of letter carriers who do door-to-door delivery to points of call normally serviced by community mail boxes. Under this agreement, the equivalent of three quarters of the street distance must be allocated.

However, the Corporation refuses to comply with this agreement and the new provisions in the LCRMS Manual, and to make the required time assessment adjustments to several letter carrier routes. In so doing, the Corporation is violating the collective agreement, specifically Articles 47 and 50, as well Appendix "V" and Chapter 13 of the LCRMS Manual.

The Canadian Union of Postal Workers grieves that the Corporation is in violation of Articles 2, 3, 8, 29 and other applicable articles and appendices of the Collective Agreement in that it has implemented a number of initiatives, for example, the Revenue Protection Project in Winnipeg, the Global Positioning System in Scarborough and changes to the isolated post allowance entitlements in a number of locations, without consulting or negotiating with the Union at the national level.

The Canadian Union of Postal Workers grieves that the Corporation is in violation of Article 28 and other applicable articles of the Collective Agreement in that it is calculating severance pay entitlements for periods of part-time and temporary service based on scheduled hours.

The Canadian Union of Postal Workers grieves that the employer has violated Appendix "FF" and other applicable provisions of the Collective Agreement in that it has failed to allow the working committees in Montreal and other locations to develop alternative schedules for the night shift and forward these schedules to the Steering Committee. It has also prevented the Steering Committee from reviewing and testing these proposed schedules. Finally, it has prevented the working committees from performing the activities specified in point 4 of Appendix "FF".

The Canadian Union of Postal Workers grieves that the employer's decision to discontinue the monotainer repair operations in Winnipeg, Montreal and Toronto, as stipulated in a letter dated December 30, 2004 is in violation of Appendix "T" and other applicable provisions of the Urban Operations collective agreement.

The Canadian Union of Postal Workers grieves that the employer is in violation of articles 3, 5, 33, 54 and other applicable provisions of the collective agreement in that it is, among other things, requiring employees to attend medical examinations in contravention of the collective agreement, requiring employees to return to work in violation of article 54, requiring employees to have their physicians complete the Acquisition of Medical Information (AMI) form or otherwise have the employees physicians provide medical information to which the employer is not entitled.