CUPW Christmas Gift Gave Price Break On Christmas Cards In 1983

Meanwhile, millions of Canadians continued mailing letters, as well as cards, without proper postage. We said this was proper compensation to the general public, which had seen services being cut to them... In the following days and weeks, the media covered this matter with a sense of incredulity. Editorials spoke of anarchy in the post office, comparing our position with workers in a store who simply decide to sell merchandise at a lower price than that decreed by the owner. Cartoons of me in a Santa Claus suit appeared in some newspapers, and some columnists condemned our union. For management, this created a real problem, because ten-cent mail was going through and there wasn't much it could do about it. The sorting machines did their work regardless of how much postage was on the mail. Reporters tested the system and found out that, as long as there was a stamp on the envelope — the amount of the stamp didn't matter — the machines would sort the mail and the mail would reach its destination. With that kind of reporting in the media, regardless of what the post office said to the public, mail continued to pour into the post office with ten-cent (and even cheaper) stamps. Canada Post then threatened to discipline postal workers if they processed this mail. But if, during the busy Christmas season, workers had had to examine each piece of mail to determine how much postage was on it, the entire system would have come to a shuddering halt. The entire automation system would be rendered useless, and management's production standards would be nothing more than a joke. Not being able to control the situation in the plants, management asked LCUC [the Letter Carriers Union of Canada] members to intercept mail without proper postage. LCUC replied that checking for proper postage was not in letter carriers' job descriptions and that forcing them to check for proper postage would make them miss delivery deadlines, even for mail with proper postage. Next, Canada Post complained to the Canadian Labour Relations Board, arguing that, in fact, this action constituted a strike on the part of CUPW. We appeared before the Board to argue against management's position. Meanwhile, millions of Canadians continued mailing letters, as well as cards, without proper postage. We said this was proper compensation to the general public, which had seen services being cut to them, while the opposite was happening in the business sector, which saw improved services and reduced rates. The Canadian Labour Relations Board moved quickly to render a decision in mid-December. It ruled with the employer, judging our action to be an illegal strike. When the media contacted me for my reaction, I said, "Does this mean that when we win back our legal right to strike, it will be legal for us to reduce mail rates for the general public?" Another reporter looked at me, and said, "You know, I didn't think about that angle, but you're right. It opens the door to another way for postal workers to strike in future." We suspended our ten-cent campaign, but the public continued to respond to it through the rest of the Christmas period, and things returned to normal after the Christmas season. Interestingly, the employer soon issued new stamps that allowed sorting machines to detect whether or not letters had proper postage. Excerpted from My Union, My Life: Jean-Claude Parrot and the Canadian Union of Postal Workers, by Jean-Claude Parrot, 288 pages, paperback, ISBN 1-55266-164-4. Published in April, 2005, by Fernwood Publishing, sells for $24.95. Reposted on Straight Goods - 19 December 2005 www.straightgoods.ca/viewFeatures5.cfm?REF=576

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