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News releaseJune 16, 2006 Union members at Canada Post want answers, not slogansOTTAWA – Due to the lack of transparency by Canada Post in refusing to reveal its development plans for this public service, members of the Union of Postal Communications Employees (UPCE) of the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) will support a citizens' action against the Crown Corporation on Monday, June 19, at noon. “We hope to obtain answers to the questions we have been asking Canada Post management for months,” explained UPCE President Richard Des Lauriers. “Unfortunately, instead of getting firm answers as to the impact of the Corporation's development plan on services to the public, we have received meaningless slogans. The time has come to go over to Canada Post offices and get the answers.” The UPCE and PSAC are therefore supporting the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) citizens' search that will take place on Monday, June 19, at noon at the Head Office of Canada Post at 2701 Riverside Drive in Ottawa. This is when union members will peacefully enter the offices of Canada Post and seek the documentation that they have been asking management for but have been unable to obtain. “Canada Post belongs to the people of Canada,” explained PSAC President John Gordon. “However, current managers are managing the Corporation as if it were a private business where the quest for profit takes precedence over services to the public. If we do nothing about it, we will end up with highly unusual situations like the one anticipated in Quebec City, where mail sent from there to other addresses in the Quebec City region will first be sent to Montreal for sorting and then returned to Quebec City for delivery. It makes no sense at all.” According to Richard Des Lauriers, “The decision to close the Quebec letter processing plant was made in anticipation of the upcoming retirement of many employees in that office. Was any thought given to the effect on the effective delivery of mail? No one knows. Canada Post refuses to say. If impending retirements are reason enough to shut down a processing plant as large as the one in Quebec City, imagine what could happen in other similar-sized or smaller centres? And what is in store for distant regions? The Canada Post slogan will then say, ‘From anywhere to anyone, except in Quebec City.'” The purpose of Monday's action is to make Canada Post accountable to its shareholders: the Canadian population. The documents that will be gathered should enlighten Canadians as to Canada Post's plans regarding the quality of mail service and force its management to launch a public debate on this issue. ReminderActivity: Date and time: Place: Information: |