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Canadian Union of Postal Workers

Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW)
Founded	1965
Members	54,000 (2006)[1]
Country	Canada
Affiliation	CLC
Key people	Deborah Bourque, president
Office location	Ottawa, Canada
Website	www.cupw-sttp.org

The Canadian Union of Postal Workers or CUPW is a public sector trade union representing postal workers employed at Canada Post as well as private sector workers outside Canada Post.

The union has approximately 55,000 members and has a long history of militancy originating in 1965 when the union was formed out of the old Canadian Postal Employees Association. It is best known to Canadians for having conducted a series of high profile strikes which had an especially strong impact in the days before email, fax machines and courier companies. Even more recent strikes, however, have a serious impact on the Canadian economy.

CUPW's first major strike was an illegal wildcat strike in 1965 (before public sector workers had the right to strike or even form unions) and is the largest illegal strike involving government employees. The action succeeded in winning the right to collective bargaining for all public sector employees. Other major industrial actions included a strike in 1968 and a campaign of walkouts in 1970 that resulted in above average wage increases. Further strikes in 1974 and 1975 succeeded in gaining job security in the face of new technology at the post office. A 1978 strike resulted in CUPW president Jean-Claude Parrot being jailed when the union defied back-to-work legislation passed by the Canadian parliament. CUPW's defiance of the law caused a temporary rift between it and the more conservative Canadian Labour Congress. In 1981, after another strike, CUPW became the first federal civil service union in Canada to win the right to maternity leave for its members.

In 1981, Canada Post was transformed from a government department to a crown corporation, fulfilling a long-standing demand by the union. It was hoped that by becoming a crown corporation governed by the Canada Labour Code, relations between Canada Post and its union would improve. While strike action has been less frequent, there were rotating strikes in 1987 and 1991 against plans to privatize postal outlets, both of which were ended by back-to-work legislation and also saw attempts by Canada Post to break the strike using "replacement workers" as they were called by Canada Post or "scabs" as the union called them.

In 1989, the Canadian Labour Relations Board forced all Canada Post employees under one union. Until that time CUPW, had represented only "inside employees" with the Letter Carriers Union of Canada representing "outdoor employees" and various other unions such as the technical workers of the Union of Postal Communications Workers (Public Service Alliance of Canada) and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers representing smaller units of specialized workers within the post office. After a vote, CUPW was chosen over LCUC to be the sole union representing all postal employees.

In 2003, CUPW successfully completed the organizing of approximately 6,000 Rural and Suburban Mail Carriers (RSMC) into the Union and won a first collective agreement for these workers. This collective agreement is separate from the CUPW collective bargaining agreement. The two collective agreements have major differences. These differences stem from the RSMCs formerly being contractors as opposed to employees of Canada Post. For instance, RSMCs are paid in a contract style system as opposed to hourly, RSMCs are typically expected to find their own replacements during absences, and RSMCs may hire assistants who are not employed by Canada Post. Also in 2003 saw the first of many rollbacks for the Urban Postal Unit when the contract that was reached included the elimination of severance pay. Members ratified the Urban Mail Operations agreement by a vote of 65.4%.[2][3]

CUPW's latest collective agreement was signed in 2007 and expires in 2011. The RSMC collective bargaining agreement expires in 2009.

The union represents different types of workers within Canada Post divided into four groups:

• Group 1: Inside workers - Postal Clerks , and mail handlers
• Group 2: Outside workers Letter-carriers and Motorized Service Carriers - originally from the Lettercarriers Union of Canada
• Group 3: Technical and general labours mostly Mechanics , Electronic Technicians , Electricians - most these need a course in a technical or trade school to get in and require to attend courses. Come from the Public Service Alliance of Canada
• Group 4: Electronic Specialist and Forepersons like the group 3 workers need a course in a technical or trade school to get in and require to attend courses . Come from the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers

The Canadian Union Of Postal Workers represents workers outside Canada Post such as cleaners, couriers, drivers, warehouse workers, paramedics, emergency medical dispatchers, printers and other workers and total 536 members in separate bargaining units. [4]

The union is also noted for supporting causes outside labor. It helps on issues such as child care, Cuba, Abortion, Colombia, anti-Racism, anti-NAFTA, anti Global Capitalism, marijuana Decriminalization, campaigns for Women's Equality and Human Rights. [5]

• ^ membership info at CUPW website.

• Canadian Union of Postal Workers
• Structure of CUPW
• Postal Working Organizing: A look across a century from CUPW

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