The text below was posted in a Canada Post employee social media group, and I really relished it because though it might overlap on some of my points, it brings a fresh perspective on other points and opens up the conversation even further. A MUCH APPRECIATED find for me because we share a similar vision of the future of Canada Post. A BRIGHT FUTURE...

Happy reading!

CREDIT: John Lawrence

How many local presidents on this page have had the opportunity to sit down with their local MP or MPs regarding Canada Post. I have sat with 3 out of 4 now and will continue to press on. I will also be reaching out to my MPP to ask why the WSIB is sending their lettermail through Purolator Courier, in direct contravention to Section 14 of the Canada Post Corporation Act (C-10 1985).

Please think outside of the box and continue to have your voices (our voices) heard. As leaders, we have a responsibility to do everything in our power to call this company's leadership out. (I use the word 'leadership' in the loosest terms here.)

Here is a text of the follow-up email that I am sending to each MP:

Hello (MPS name),
I just wanted to follow-up with you and _________ as per our meeting a few weeks back.
I would like to say thank you, wholeheartedly, for the time that you all were able to share with me to talk about the issues facing 55,000 postal workers, some of whom are your constituents.
If I may, I would like to recap the concerns that we have, not only as postal workers, but as Canadian citizens. I will list them in point form for expediency and for clarity.
There needs to be a full parliamentary inquiry and/or investigation into the finances and actions of Canada Post, including but not limited to the following:

a) The blatant conflict of interest of our CEO sitting on the board of directors of Purolator Courier Canada.

b) The circumvention of the Canada Post Corporation Act, Bill C-10 1985, Section 14 that gives Canada Post the exclusive privilege of delivering letter mail in Canada. (Major banks, as well as the WSIB, have been confirmed as sending lettermail through Purolator Canada.)

c) The mismanagement of government funds and the possible malfeasance of a crown corporation building a half-billion dollar plant (The Albert Jackson Processing Centre) in Toronto to handle the influx of parcels from a major online retailer with no long-term contracts. *That retailer now has its own delivery system in place, bypassing Canada Post almost entirely.

d) The fact that Canada Post is advertising to its customers to use alternate delivery methods pending a work stoppage that is not even close to happening at this point-in-time.

e) The reality that Canada Post claims to have somehow lost money during the Covid pandemic when postal workers were working 12-hour days, often 6 or 7 days a week to keep up with the volumes. How is this even possible? In what environment can this Board make money?

f) The fact that, while crying bankruptcy, the board of directors and management at Canada Post continue to receive yearly bonuses.

g) Possible collusion with the Kaplan Inquiry as to whether it was assembled to fully support the current board's plan to take a chainsaw to our cherished public service as the Union (workers) were given zero opportunity to discuss expansion of services.

h) To explore possibilities to enhance the services that Canada Post provides to Canadians, especially in indigenous, rural, and remote communities.

i) To establish the true costs, both financial and environmental, of eliminating door-to-door delivery, i.e. putting tens of thousands more vehicles on our roads, truck costs, maintenance costs for vehicles, driver training costs, fuel costs, liabilities due to motor vehicle accidents, cost of maintaining and replacing community mailboxes, cost of constant lock changes, costs of upkeep of community mailboxes, costs of liabilities due to community mailboxes not being maintained in the winter season, snow clearing of community boxes, etc. Is Canada Post actually saving any money with this method?

j) To look at corruption and fiscal mismanagement in the post office, i.e. contractors and subcontractors charging inordinate amounts for simple jobs. (I have some very personal insight to this. It isn't a blind accusation.)

k) To look at the ever-increasing ratio of management-to-worker.

l) To determine the financial and health costs related to the deplorable and toxic employer-worker relationship.

m) The lack of good-faith bargaining by the employer. (Negotiating directly to the membership via their Canada Post propaganda screens in our depots, emails to employees with offers, an unwillingness to negotiate, etc.)
An expansion of services. While the big banks in Canada continue to record ever-increasing profits, (for example, the Royal Bank in the last quarter earned $4.2B which is $1.4B per month, and while the big banks continue to shutter brick-and-mortar branches in many indigenous, rural and remote communities, Canada Post could once again offer banking services as it did from 1867 up until 1967. There is a Canada Post building in every community in this nation and what better way to serve an aging population than to have a physical bank in every community? One only has to watch the news to see how our elderly are being preyed upon by unscrupulous individuals in an online environment that our elderly are, for the most part, totally unaccustomed to or equipped to traverse safely without being taken advantage of.
There is also the ability for postal workers to do seniors check-ins for those who subscribe, deliver prescriptions, etc. Canada Post could offer internet services in remote areas of the country, and could definitely provide EV charging stations throughout the country.
During the Kaplan Industrial Inquiry, there was no room given to discuss expansion of services.
 
Mrs. ____________, Canada Post is often compared to our big parcel companies. This is a flawed view. Canada Post is not a business, but is a public service. It is tasked with delivering to all points-of-call in this country regardless of cost, burden, or location. The big parcel companies are not shackled with this requirement. Further, many of those companies rely on Canada Post to deliver parcels to these locations on their behalf. This is called 'The Last Mile." Canada Post is mandated to do this even at a loss. One suggestion that I have heard from an MP was to have the costs of this burden calculated in some manner and to have Canada Post given a stipend each fiscal year to cover this responsibility. At present, this cost is borne by the employees at Canada Post in terms of lost profits at Canada Post, thus loss of bargaining power.
At the present, there seems to be a penchant for cutting. I suggest that we do something visionary and look at ways of making Canada Post viable in the long-term, in turning it back into what it was intended to be, a corporation that serves Canadians, and in turn makes our standard of living even better. Other countries are doing so.
As for door-to-door delivery, one cannot put a dollar value on this service. (The Kaplan Report suggested ending this concept.) Over my 35 year career, I have had many experiences that were favourable to communities that I worked in and I am but one of many tens of thousands. For example, you have no idea of the value of being able to knock on a door to tell a mother that her kids have found a way to open the gate and get out of the backyard, and are now wandering on the road. There is no price you can put on seeing that Mrs. Cunningham has not checked her mail in two days, thus alerting us to a potential life changing issue. We know when Don is on his porch and, when he isn't there, we know something is up. We also know that the two men sitting in the black SUV beside a home where its occupants are on vacation shouldn't be there. We are the eyes and ears of our communities and we add value to Canadians that has never been and cannot be given a monetary value. Want to look at community policing? We are already out there, or at least still in some communities. With postal banking, we could perhaps afford to get rid of 40,000 trucks and put our members back into our communities. What a bold idea. Bold ideas are what politicians should be remembered for. And let's not forget the role of our MPs, politicians, and our governments as a whole; to serve their fellow Canadians.
If you have any questions or thoughts, or if I can provide any further insight or information on these issues, please always feel free to reach out to me.