Postal Strike

[Rwede]

How can you misspell such an easy 4-letter word...

Haha, I guess I should have listened more closely to Brother Lemelin when he was Director of Union Education! :D

[The Green Barbarian]

Haha, I guess I should have listened more closely to Brother Lemelin when he was Director of Union Education! :D

Man - when you read that CV, it sounds like something right out of the book "1984".

[NAB]

The writing is on the wall... Every year traditional postal service become less competitive as a means of communication and shipment. Personally speaking, there is nothing in my life that I need postal service for any more.
Nab

""OTTAWA — Canada Post's operations lost money for the first time in 17 years in 2011, the Crown corporation reported Tuesday, citing a labour disruption and declining mail volumes as some of the main factors.


Canada Post added there is an "urgent need to transform the business," given the long-term trends of declining mail delivery and high labour costs.


The government-owned operation, which has a mandate to be financially self-sufficient, said its group of companies lost $253 million last year, ending a 16-year streak of profitability.


Canada Post said the combination of rotating strikes and a lockout last June effectively shut down the postal system for 25 days.


Also, there was a 4.6 per cent decline in mail volumes per point of delivery, which it said amounts to 20 per cent over the past five years.


"We have a business model that is no longer working," said Canada Post spokesman Jon Hamilton.


Some of the key ways the company plans on turning its operations around include more affordable labour costs, which it aims to achieve through the collective-bargaining process. As well, it is looking to take better advantage of services related to growing use of technology, such as the delivery of products purchased over the Internet and processing payments for such transactions.


Other factors also contributed to the loss, which was $327 million at its core Canada Post operations. Its group of companies also includes Purolator Inc., SCI Group Inc., and Innovapost Inc.


Canada Post said its "volatile" pension obligations to employees also were costly last year. It said employee pension funds are underfunded by $4.7 billion, and it had to contribute $510 million to this last year, of which $219 million was considered "special payments."


Canada Post said finances were further affected by factoring in an estimated cost from a ruling last year from the Supreme Court of Canada that certain employees represented by the Public Service Alliance of Canada, dating back to 1983, were paid less money than those in comparable jobs.


The estimated figure for this ruling was not released. Canada Post said it is in talks with the union to clarify exactly how much this ruling is going to cost.


The Canadian Union of Postal Workers, which represents about 50,000 Canada Post workers, said the cost of this court decision is thought to be between $150 million and $250 million, meaning it would account for the majority of the loss reported for 2011.


The union, which was involved in last year's labour dispute, also said the corporation itself is largely to blame for losing $60 million during the strikes and lockout last year.


Union president Denis Lemelin said in statement that Canada Post has ignored its ideas for how to improve the business, such as providing longer counter hours, more door-to-door delivery and offering banking services.


"Canada Post management has refused to listen but finds it convenient to blame its workers for a shortfall in revenue," Lemelin said.""

http://www.montrealgazette.com/business ... story.html

[logicalview]

The writing is on the wall... Every year traditional postal service become less competitive as a means of communication and shipment. Personally speaking, there is nothing in my life that I need postal service for any more.
Nab

You betcha Nab. In the U.S. there is an anticipated decline of 30% of US Postal workers that sort and process the mail.

Can't see Canada post workers fairing any better.

The workers who prepare the incoming and outgoing mail for distribution throughout our complex postal system may become more obsolete in the future.

New automated equipment that quickly and efficiently sorts and processes mail will greatly reduce the need for these workers in the coming years.

Further dampening the demand for these workers, companies are increasingly taking advantage of postage rate discounts by pre-sorting mail before it arrives at the Post Office.

Nearly one-third of the current Postal Mail Sorters, Processors, and PM Operators in today’s work force will not be working in that profession by 2018.

Median Salary: $50,020

Projected Job Losses by 2018: 54,500

Percentage Decline by 2018: 30%

[logicalview]

Anybody get mail delivered today?

[NAB]

Yup. An envelope addressed to "Occupant" LOL. I just put it in the outbound mail box unopened :-)

Nab

[Urbane]

Anybody get mail delivered today?

There are some Mondays when we get only one piece of mail (junk usually) and then more mail on Tuesday. That seems to have happened more in the recent past (since the strike perhaps) but it's odd because on Monday we should be receiving three days' worth of mail (Sat,Sun,Mon). Also, since the strike the mail seems slower to me. Perhaps the posties are just slowing things down to send a message to all of us?

[GordonH]

Anybody get mail delivered today?

There are some Mondays when we get only one piece of mail (junk usually) and then more mail on Tuesday. That seems to have happened more in the recent past (since the strike perhaps) but it's odd because on Monday we should be receiving three days' worth of mail (Sat,Sun,Mon). Also, since the strike the mail seems slower to me. Perhaps the posties are just slowing things down to send a message to all of us?

No sure what either of you are getting at, the amount of mail I receive has not gone down or up.

[NAB]

I don't rely on the postal service for anything, ....so I am never disappointed.

Nab

[GordonH]

I don't rely on the postal service for anything, ....so I am never disappointed.

Nab

Yep, gone paperless & Family & friends we email. Only mail I send now is Birthday cards & Christmas (nice to get something hand written on those dates.)

[kessia0828]

The U.S. Postal service continues to be wracked by financial problems, as the bureau is constantly short on funds. The Postal service fund payment, a $5.5 billion deposit, will be defaulted on and the agency is scheduled to run totally out of funds later this year.

Passed by Congress more than a decade ago, the annual payment into the retired worker health fund is thought to be the biggest obstacle to the fiscal health of the USPS. The payment in question was originally supposed to be made in September of last year, but has been extended since then so the agency can right itself to some degree. Progress has been slow, however.

[Rwede]

Canada Post says losses at $10 million
by The Canadian Press - Story: 79719
Aug 27, 2012 / 10:17 am



The Canada Post Group of Companies says losses deepened in the second quarter as the mail carrier faced eroding results across most of its operations.

The company reported a loss of $10 million, or $4 million after taxes, which marks an improvement from a loss $18 million, or $17 million after taxes, a year earlier.

But the Crown corporation says the latest quarter is skewed by a lockout last summer which pulled down results in the comparable period last year, making the decline the latest quarter seem less severe.

Cost of operations rose 6.1 per cent, or $85 million, to $1.47 billion in the quarter ended June 30.

Canada Post noted that 71 per cent of its overall costs are tied to labour, which is why it believes it's important it must reach a collective agreement with the union representing its employees.

Good on the union. :127:

Kill the goose that laid your golden egg.

[GrooveTunes]

They've spent over 2 billion dollars in the past 3 years upgrading the sorting machines, replacing vehicles etc, for so called declining business? How's that the fault of the union?

And from what I understand, alot of that money was taken from the pension fund putting it in the red. Looks to me their trying to sabotage their own business. I think a review of the clown at the top is in order.

[Captain Awesome]

They've spent over 2 billion dollars in the past 3 years upgrading the sorting machines, replacing vehicles etc, for so called declining business? And from what I understand, alot of that money was taken from the pension fund putting it in the red.

Yeah, right. And union just let them take their pension money to spend on something else - right after they sent a memo to everybody to work hard and be more efficient, I bet.

[Rwede]

1.) Capital costs related to new machinery do not hit the bottom line in a $2 billion smack.

2.) The pension fund is managed separately from the company and not available for "robbing." This despite what your union newsletter tells you.


The union apologists have a tough time figuring out that 71% of the company's costs is what contributes the most to the company's losses. Of course, based on the other thread, "the most" doesn't mean "the most" when a unionist is defending a union's idiotic actions that kill members' jobs.