MAKICHUK: Time for the feds to get tough with CUPW
President Reagan set the bar by firing striking Air Traffic Controllers in 1981
“They are in violation of the law and if they do not report for work within 48 hours they have forfeited their jobs and will be terminated.”
— President Ronald Reagan, sending an ultimatum to striking Air Traffic Controllers
And so, yet another strike at Canada Post.
This time, it’s because the corporation, which is struggling to cut annual losses, was given the green light by the federal government, to make changes.
Changes that will cut losses, and hopefully make them more profitable.
But of course, the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW), doesn’t see it that way.
They are calling it an attack on postal workers, which is total bullshit.
And more than a wheelbarrow full of it.
Here is what is happening:
Joël Lightbound, the minister responsible for Canada Post, detailed a number of changes, including authorizing Canada Post to end home delivery. About four million addresses still receive that service, CBC News reported.
Lightbound said Canada Post will also adjust how it delivers mail, so that non-urgent post can move by ground instead of air at a cost savings of $20 million annually.
The modernization plan also includes lifting the 1994 moratorium on closing rural post offices that covers nearly 4,000 locations — many of which the government says were once rural and have since become urban post offices.
The government is arguing, and rightly so, that the changes are necessary to keep the Crown corporation — which is on track to lose $1.5 billion in 2025 — afloat.
“The bottom line is this: Canada Post is effectively insolvent,” Lightbound said.
The Crown corporation has 45 days to submit a cost-savings plan to the government.
The fine folks at CUPW are not impressed, they want to keep their phoney baloney jobs, regardless of the inevitable progress, which must follow.
In other words, screw the Canadian taxpayer, who is funding their sorry incompetence.
The Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) said it was “outraged and appalled” by the changes laid out Thursday.
“In response to the government’s attack on our postal service and workers, effective immediately, all CUPW members at Canada Post are on a nationwide strike,” CUPW said in a statement.
And here it is what comes down to.
It is time for the Canadian government to stand firm, and stop the bleeding at Canada Post … union, or no union.
Common sense, must prevail.
It is time to stop being Canadian, and start being practical. Prime Minister Mark Carney, has to take a strong stand.
While these changes may not do enough to make Canada Post profitable, it is a good start. Of that, there is no question.
Let us go back in time, to a leader who decided, enough was enough.
In 1981, the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO) in the United States left their posts and went on strike.
Some 13,000 of the 17,500 members of PATCO went out to the picket line, seeking higher wages, more benefits, a 32-hour workweek and exemption from various Civil Service rules.
Approximately 13,000 of the 17,500 PATCO members participated.
The problem: The strike was illegal according to federal law. President Ronald Reagan issued the strikers an ultimatum: Get back to work or be fired.
Some returned. Most did not and most were fired.
President Reagan was going to enforce the law. And in doing so, many noticed the firmness with which Reagan acted and how quickly he did so, especially the Soviets, who never doubted Reagan’s word thereafter.
The PATCO strikers of 1981 were replaced with a combination of 3,000 supervisors, those who had not gone out on strike, and 900 military controllers.
An aggressive hiring and training program made up the difference. In 1996, President Bill Clinton ended Reagan’s prohibition on rehiring PATCO strikers as air traffic controllers and a few hundred returned to work after more than a decade-and-a-half in the wilderness.
Ladies and gents, it is time that the feds follow President Reagan’s example.
If Canada Post workers, do not return to work, after being handed an order to do so, then out the door they go. Simple as that.
Problem solved.
Cross the picket line and show up for work, and keep your job.
The feds could easily launch an aggressive hiring and training program, with younger, eager workers.
When I first arrived in Calgary back in the fall of 1979, I worked temporarily at the Canada Post facility on McKnight Blvd., to handle the Christmas rush.
It took about 5 minutes to train me, LOL!
I mean, its not like training somebody to fly a CF-18.
It’s time to get tough and win. Too bad so sad about CUPW.
Let them keep whining and spreading their ridiculous rhetoric.
I would also extend an olive branch to Canada Post workers. Giving them a year to return to their jobs.
However, the same job would not be guaranteed. They would have to take, what was offered.
Imagine, earlier this month, the union said the government’s offer of a 13 per cent pay increase fell short of its demand for 19 per cent.
An insane demand, for a company losing money hand over foot.
What planet, are these CUPW nabobs living on?
It’s time to show them some mettle, folks.
The bleeding must stop.