Cousins & Comrades, 

After the chaos of peak season, the office settled into a relative calm for most of January. During that time, I did another round of workfloor visits and meetings in Edmonton, including 9 affiliates, bringing my total to 95 visits since June. During these stops I explained how arbitration has once again been unilaterally extended and how, unless our union radically changes our perspective on how change is made, we will be held hostage to this process which can never deliver us satisfaction. 

On this point, I shared how Edmonton is not waiting on miracles from above and how our organizing campaign is now spreading throughout the rest of the Region. Dates are set for the end of Feb and throughout March to send Edmonton trainers to other locals to help them get their own workfloors organized. We can now add Calgary to the list of Prairie locals looking to get on board which is vital development considering how CPC just announced they will attempting to re-implement the SSD model at the Calgary Deerfoot facility by Sept 2020. 

SSD stands for Separate Sortation from Delivery and is a crisis in the making. To put it simply, night sorters will be brought in to prep the mail for day walkers who will now be delivering for the entirety of their shift. Anyone who has performed the work can immediately understand the absurdity of this model. Carriers are by far our largest segment of membership who also have the highest proportional rate of injury; making them walk more very obviously raises the probability of a slip, trip or fall. Beyond being another example of just how hypocritical CPCs ‘Make It Safe, Make It Home’ campaign is, this is another flawed work method destined to create more problems than it solves. 

The SSD crisis will not be stopped by grievances or consultations; CPC will try to ram it through just like their Modern Post initiative. If SSD is allowed to establish itself in Calgary, it will continue to spread until a local fights back from its workfloors. For this reason, our Regional Organizing Officer, Dave Lambert, and I are working our hardest to get Calgary recruiting and training activists as soon as possible, as widely as possible. We’re finalizing a conference call with Calgary members for this coming week and will be aggressively encouraging training to start around the end of February. Our goal is to try and stop SSD in its tracks and build stronger organizing ties with Calgary in the process. An injury to one is an injury to all. 

On the point of broadening our struggle, many of you will have already read the message of solidarity our Exec sent along to the Co-op refinery workers of Unifor 594 in Regina. These workers have been locked out since December for refusing to gut their pension for a company making $3 million/day in profits. Since then, court injunctions have demanded the union demobilize their pickets and dismantle their barricades and the Regina authorities have taken 14 members, including their National President, into custody only to be released soon after. This heroic example is exactly what is needed in the labour movement if unions are to ever rediscover the path to end our decades-long losing streak. Because of Unifor’s militancy, Co-op brass was begging them to come back to the table for the first time since being locked out. No matter what happens with Unifor’s negotiations moving forward, their bravery has already reinforced an important, timeless, lesson: solidarity wins. We must let this lesson inform all of our strategic considerations moving forward. Our strength is in a mobilized membership. Are we doing everything we can to nurture this strength? 

On that note I’ll end with a question I like to ask during my workfloor visits: what is the union doing? Anyone who has found the time to read our weekly updates and our monthly newsletter will see that our local is buzzing with activity. Job actions continue to build our confidence and experience levels. Our Education committee successfully trained three more Taking Back Our Work Floor classes and will hold another basic shop steward course shortly. Most of our Chief Stewards have done an excellent job keeping their steward base informed and coordinated while nurturing secondary leadership for consults and grievance hearings. The route measurement team is working in tandem with our activists to arm them with information needed to mobilize against job cuts. Our GMMs continue to be well attended and instrumental in improving the policy and structure of our local. Even our Exec meetings have transformed from tedious affairs dominated by petty squabbling to productive planning sessions where fighting CPC is our focus. If any member still claims that the union is doing nothing, I respectfully encourage them to first inform themselves and then to join along in one of the many ways we are fighting back. More hands make lighter work. 

The skirmishes we’ve won over the last many months are an essential prelude to the battles immediately ahead with the Rosedale restructure and Calgary SSD. With each escalation our local better prepares itself for the ultimate challenge of responding to an unfavorable June arbitration or the next time we are inevitably legislated back-to-work. As always, the struggle continues but I’m very proud to say that instead of complaining or surrendering to defeatism many in our our local are committing to make a difference and fight back against CPC wherever they can. Thank you for your inspiring efforts and sustained support. Let’s keep growing, let’s keep moving forward. 

In Solidarity, 

Roland Schmidt 

President, CUPW 730 Edmonton & Affiliates