CUPW urges Canada Post to invest profits in public postal service and safety

For Immediate Release

Ottawa – Canada Post’s annual report announced record volumes and $119 million in net profits in 2006, its twelfth consecutive year of making millions and its twenty-fifth year of providing universal, affordable public postal service.

“The numbers look good,” said Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) President Deborah Bourque, “but our members take exception to Ms. Greene’s statement that we all need to be customer advocates. She’s talking about business customers. Canada Post has both commercial and public service commitments, so we all need to be community and citizen advocates too.”

“In fact, we’re pretty upset with Canada Post’s rudderless management of its public service mandate,” said Bourque. “I think folks would be surprised to find out Canada Post is an active member of the CD Howe Institute and did not object to the Institute’s paper calling for the deregulation and privatization of our public post office.”

Bourque said Canada Post really isn’t doing enough to protect public postal service or workers. Authors of the 2006 Annual Report say they want Canada Post to be “the best place to work in Canada.” CUPW also wants Canada Post to be the best place to work in Canada but has very different ideas about how to get there.

“Canada Post is still a very dangerous employer,” said Bourque. “In fact, it’s the second most dangerous place to work in the federal sector. Almost 10,000 injured workers a year among 54,000 is an untold scandal.”

 “We would prefer that the profits and the dividends be put back into improving the health and safety of our workers and expanding public postal service. That's our main concern, the viability and quality of public postal service that connects families, communities and businesses,” said Bourque.

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