of |p | Postal workers gear up for strike COURTESY CUPW NEWSLETTER Taking on bad governments, bad policies By JOHN FEHR The recent postal strike by the Letter Carriers Union of Canaca (LCUC) Makes me optimistic for the future of Postal workers and labour in general. It 0€s my heart good to see workers rising UP to the challenges of big business and governments, wherever they might Ye. In the postal strike, we had to con- tend with both these formidable enemies Who had, I might add, the help of their friends in the media. I wish to congratu- ate my brothers and sisters in the LCUC for pulling off a brilliant strike. The employer helped LCUC’s cause, of course, by hiring scabs to deliver the Mail. The picket line clashes between Scabs and cops against workers did not _ Sit well with the Canadian public, who fe used to seeing these images broad- Cast from far away places like Korea and hile, not down their street at the neigh- urhood post office. | The notion that Canadians are inhe- tently right-wing and anti-worker simply doesn’t hold water in my opinion. CUPW Up Next I hope I’m right because inside postal Workers are up next. Many observers lieve that Canada Post’s run at LCUC Was just the warm up or test case. Their Teal target is the Canadian Union of Postal Workers. If this is the case, they are in for a ‘Major scrap. While LCUC entered their Strike wanting the same contract with a Small wage increase, CUPW enters the final stages before a strike with some || Pretty tough lines drawn. We cannot af- Ord to accept status quo. Under the’ current agreement, indi- _Viduals have job security protections. “l0wever, the employer has found ways _—_ to the public postal system as we know it. Losing our job security protections will ‘pave the way for wholesale privatization of the postal system. In private hands, owners of companies will skim off the profits of the parcel, letter and retail business, leaving the unprofitable dregs for the public to bear. Privatization is the policy of unfettered greed that will benefit a few in business but steadily destroy the fabric of Cana- dian life, particularly in rural Canada. Privatization Business Agenda Privatization is devastating for work- ers. Cleaning jobs in the post office had been contracted out to low-wage, non-union private companies. Wages have dropped from over $9 per hour to $4.50. Who filled these jobs? By and large they were women, immigrants and ~ youth. Now, traditional CUPW work is the target. Wicket jobs, the most desired work..in. the. bargaining, unit;,are» being» contracted out through the employer’s scheme called franchising. The employer basically sells the right to provide postal services to a private company and then shuts down corporate outlets employing CUPW members. The franchise employs workers at $4.50 an hour. The workers are mainly young and mainly female. Franchising is Canada Post’s latest, and perhaps trendiest, way of destroying CUPW jobs. However, we still have sub-post offices — those awful little counters in drug stores and conyenience stores — to contend with. The employer has increased the number of services provided by subs, to include priority post, registered mail, CODs, etc. This takes even more work out of the hands of CUPW. In private hands, owners of companies will skim off _ the profits of the parcel, letter and retail business, leaving the unprofitable dregs for the public to bear. ee ‘0 contract out our work, and is making 'echnological changes that will ulti- -Mately render thousands of our members Tedundant. Under this contract, Canada Post can Only reduce the numbers of employees Ough attrition or early retirement Schemes. It can’t lay off. It can’t even Orce people to transfer outside a 40 mile _Tadius. . From the employer’s point of view, if tis to succeed with its plans to increase . the efficiency of the machinery, and sell - Off the retail end of the business to pri- Vate companies, it must obtain certain “Oncessions from CUPW. It must obtain the contractual right to lay off and ‘Otherwise get rid of its surplus €mployees. | This is the worst thing that can happen Other traditional CUPW functions are vulnerable. There is no limit to what can ‘be privatized. é If successful, privatization promises a gloomy future for workers. Along with deregulation in the private sector, the goal of privatization is to increase the share of the economic pie for companies and the rich, while workers get the crumbs. To bring this off, emplyers need to legislate away our social programs — this is where free trade fits in — and weaken unions and other mass organiza- tions of the people. This scenario is now being played out by the Mulroney government. It does not bode well for workers, and is especially hard on young workers who face a bleak future in non-union shops. The agenda is there. We see it in British Columbia in the legislative attack on unions, workers and the unemployed by smiling Bill Vander Zalm. We see it in Alberta, where free-enterprise capitalists have picked on oil workers and meat packers with glee. In Sas- katchewan, Devine and company are privatizing everything in sight. And in Ottawa, ‘‘Mulreagan’’ wants Canada to become the 51st state for the other 50 to plunder. Sounds depressing. So why am I op- timistic? Because workers are fighting . back, and that makes me optimistic! everyone in urban and suburban areas. The polls on free trade are interesting too. It is the hottest issue in the Ontario election, according to the Toronto Star. The more people know about free trade, the less they like it. The CLC can take credit for making this an issue within the trade union movement, and making links with other organizations who also op- pose free trade with the U.S. During our strike, we will need the collective support of the whole labour movement. That means reaching the media with the message that union mem- Privatization is the policy of unfettered greed that will benefit a few in business but steadily destroy the fabric of Canadian life, particularly in rural Canada. We do have our work cut out for us however. Canada Post has already begun hiring scabs and arranging for mail ware- houses in preparation for its campaign of strikebreaking against the union. It has tabled 52 pages of documenta- tion calling for rollbacks and concessions in the collective agreement. In order to implement its business plan it wants to eliminate 8,000 jobs and increase the number of part-time and casual workers. Inside the plants the employer is carry- ing on a program of harassment. Firings and disciplines have escalated. The cor- poration is even showing a lack of re- spect for the legal process and is delaying or outright refusing to implement arbi- trator’s decisions. All this means Canada Post is gearing up for a fight and so are we. The struggle over privatization and contracting out of postal services will continue, until this Tory government in Ottawa is defeated. However this impending strike will be important to the future of the postal ser- vice and the ability of the labour move- ment to win against the forces of free trade, deregulation and privatization. Solidarity Key Winning won’t be easy. It will take the active solidarjty of workers and their supporters. The CLC is on the right track by getting involved in coalitions with other groups who have similar interests. Unions can no longer afford to fight their battles in isolation. This is the reality of the 1980s. ; Postal unions began last year to ac-__ tively solicit the support of the public in our campaign to make postal issues a public debate. It is working. We are hav- ing some success. Now, only 37 per cent of all adult Canadians support Mul- roney’s efforts to privatize the postal system. A substantial majority of the public back our proposals for expanded ser- vices at the wickets, including longer hours and door to door delivery to bers support CUPW and reaching the politicians in their home ridings with the same message. Picket line support of all kinds is most welcome. We need the presence of other workers on those lines to enable us to meet the combined forces of scabs and cops, and to boost our morale. Letters to newspapers refuting attacks in their editorials will also help get the public on our side.. We have somewhat of an up- hill battle to win support of the public, since our image has been somewhat tar- nished by our enemies in the media for ‘many years. A Political Battle In any case, I know we will persevere. And when I sit down at the negotiations ‘ table with the rest of the CUPW negotiat- ing team, and we go nose to nose with the employer over these issues, this will be going through my mind: they may have that gang of corrupt Tories and the power of big business on their side, but the union has the collective strength and sol- idarity of 23,000 postal workers, the ac- tive support of another 35,000 union members in the post office, the moral support of 2.5-million members of the , house of labour, the support of union members and members of the public whose numbers I simply cannot calcu- late behind us. And I ask you, given these facts, who’s going to blink first? Not us. CUPW is, once again, engaged in a polit- ical struggle, part of which will be fought on the picket lines in all likelihood. This political battle is to win the hearts and minds of the vast majority of Cana- dians. If we do so, we can defeat Mul- roney. This article is abridged from a speech de- livered by John Fehr, National Chief Stew- ard for the Canadian Union of Postal Work- ers to the recent Tribune Labour Festival. PACIFIC TRIBUNE, SEPTEMBER 9, 1987 e 5 Te ar neem annenerecnane NAN etecaes ahs acs Sanna aan ae 2