As part of Spring Magazine’s coverage of the CUPW strike, Vancouver Spring members visited picket lines in Richmond and Burnaby last month to get workers’ thoughts on the strike and their struggle against Canada Post Management (CPM).
We learned a great deal.
The workers told us numerous stories detailing CPM’s strategy and tactics throughout the negotiation period, which began over a year ago.
We heard how CPM had “dragged out” negotiations; refusing to budge an inch on the just demands of the Union—and its members—only to make insulting counter offers designed to “force a confrontation” with the union and its members last minute during “peak season”; thus isolating them through public anger over the suspension of services.
The CPM then resorted to ruthless and unconscionable tactics (as well as illegal) to break the will of workers and their union. This meant laying off workers; denying benefits—including one worker who was denied expensive cancer treatment medications—and last but not least, lying about the CP’s “financial problems”, which management and its collaborators in the business press used to scapegoat postal workers during the strike.
All in bid to essentially turn one of Canada’s most vital and enduring public crown corporations, into the image of Amazon and other predatorial gig companies.
The tale of two processing plants: Rage against “The Penitentiary!”
One evening, in early December, Spring members huddled with CUPW picketers outside one of CP’s main sorting facilities—a rather remote commercial sector in south Burnaby far from public view. Unfortunately, in the greater Vancouver area, many of the picket lines are situated in places like these.
A long time CUPW worker pointed out a large Amazon plant across the street: “In the windows you can see the conveyor belts transporting parcels at faster speeds than we are used to, which given the strain and repetition injuries we endure must be even worse for those poor workers there.”
Workers also testified to how CPM, since 2018, had hired a legion of “team leaders” (factory whip hands) to monitor—and increase—their work intensity (their “productivity”). Even though many of these employees were hired from outside the company (not former workers who might empathize with their former colleagues); knew nothing of how things operated and had to be trained by workers on the shop floor; and who did very little themselves (often caught on social media or watching Youtube videos).
In fact, many of these supervisors were quite adept at bossing and bullying workers (unsurprisingly given their job description). They were often very insulting and patronizing.
For example, if workers became distracted for even a few moments (having noticed something odd in one letter that they were sorting) they would be accused of reading the mail. When anyone complained of discomfort or soreness and suggested simple ways to alleviate it (like using fans when or if it got too hot, or putting down mats to cushion the floor) supervisors would refuse, reciting silly safety codes and regulations.
Management even dimmed or blotted out windows, to reduce any temptation workers might have to look outside.
The worst insult, however, was the numerous times supervisors would gaslight about complaints and injuries. Management would allegedly fail to document those injuries and pay false witness to workers who wanted to claim injury leave or file for working person’s compensation.
One worker in describing these conditions, while referring to repetition injuries of which she suffers and which afflict a large number of postal workers, said she and the other workers irreverently refer to their work place as “The Penitentiary!”
Another major theme of conversation was Canada Post’s (CP) “financial woes” and “unsustainable” business model, that worker’s and the union claim, quite plausibly, were engineered by management itself. CP’s version of the story was broadcasted uncritically by the mainstream media and business press to an unknowing public. While constantly bemoaning the terrible burden the strike has imposed on Canadians consumers and small businesses. The implication being that this was the worker’s fault and not CPM’s scandalous mismanagement of a vital crown corporation, which they used as a trojan horse to attack the livelihoods of tens of thousands of workers.
Workers and the union, however, were well aware of this mismanagement,even if the puppet talking heads in the business press were not. Especially since 2018, when CP, apparently, really started to hemorrhage financially.
They pointed out, at the time, that management had indeed committed $4 billion in new investments over the next four years including a 470 million dollar “state of the art” parcel sorting factory in Toronto in 2023. This was an effort to apparently get a good market foothold in the “Parcel, Express, and Parcel (CEP)” business, making up for lost revenue from letter mail—CP’s main source of revenue—which, since the advent of electronic mail, has been in terminal decline. The CP corporation was well positioned to do so, given its extensive logistics networks (Similar to UPS and Fedex, who incidentally are unionized, although in the case of the latter with a considerable part time work force; but paying relatively higher wages to its couriers).
In fact, CP enjoyed a dominant market share of over 60% in 2022 and today continues to earn the same revenue from the parcel business even if its “market share” has been chipped away by more “flexible,” “nimble,” and “competitive,” “gig” suppliers (who compete by paying poverty wages, no benefits, pensions, and who offload capital costs—gas and vehicles—onto their workers).
Then something curious happened. The company, during covid, on the one hand, continued to spend “like there was no tomorrow.” even though demand was clearly excessive during the pandemic, only to, on the other hand, drive away one of its most important customers: Amazon! As a result, “[The CP corporation has] a legion of vehicles sitting idle in a legion of vacant warehouses and facilities across the country!”
Incidentally, these investments account for the entirety of CP’s deficits since 2018.
As shady as it is to claim investments as “a loss” in revenue—much of which could still prove profitable, provided proper management—it is entirely another matter to bold-facedly lie about CP’s fiscal situation. The Union also caught CPM in some “creative accounting.” CPM exaggerated the lack of revenues in the parcel business post covid, including spurious “market share” numbers; and tallied Amazon subsidiaries “as part of this market” when “no company was in fact “beating us to this business.” As one worker said; “they cooked the books to justify screwing us, and the media just buys this stuff!”
Even if there is some truth to CP’s narrative, management should have instead focused on lobbying for all governments (municipal, provincial and federal) to properly regulate the gig economy and/or implement legislation to make it easier for gig workers to unionize (governments, including the federal Liberal government, have, instead, done the exact opposite).
The CPM, of course, did not pursue this avenue, nor the numerous proposals by the Union and CUPW workers, for expanding the mandate and services of CP—in particular for underserved rural communities. This could have salvaged existing infrastructure and created additional revenue streams,all of which would go a long way in shoring up a sustainable business model for the public enterprise.
Suffice to say, if worker’s themselves ran CP, instead of an executive board which reads like a who’s who of anti-worker, union busting, neoliberal hatchet men—then Canadians would not be in jeopardy of losing one of Canada’s most vital public service providers. Not to mention tens of thousands of non-precarious, decent paying jobs.
A bloated and overpaid bureaucracy
But that was not all. Many workers seemed especially incensed by the bloated CPM bureaucracy with no fewer than 134 VPs on its staff.
Workers also criticized the aforementioned, superfluous, “supervisors” that management employed to spy and harass workers.
As one worker poignantly put it: “CP executives, who have run the company into the ground, and who are now blaming us for the financial problems[…] make a lot more money than we do! Yet it is our modest salaries that are being attacked at the negotiation table and in the press!”
Demoralization and divide to conquer
In the first two weeks of the strike, workers were quite frustrated and angry, but for the most part they were nonetheless quite positive and upbeat. But after four weeks of brutal attrition—imposed on them by an intransigent CPM— there was now a palpable sense of demoralization in their ranks. Reported one worker: “We have been out here nearly 4 weeks, in the freezing cold, making strike pay of 58 dollars a day[…] while many members, especially those with expensive mortgage and rent payments are struggling financially—many in, or close to, financial ruin[…] Who can live on 58 dollars a day?”
One worker, clearly distressed over not having received a decent paycheck in a month, was wondering if Union negotiators were getting “hung up” on “non meat-and-potato” demands (a lie leaked into the media by CPM itself). Refusing to budge on raising the pay and unionizing cleaning crews, or, in “special” health provisions for trans workers, which one worker, while she had no issue with per se, nonetheless thought these demands should take a back seat to more critical issues.
Obviously, such sentiments are unhelpful and play right into the hands of management, who are more than happy to play divide and conquer to weaken the solidarity of workers—especially with respect to their union. But these perspectives are bound to surface in a situation where workers feel alienated and powerless.
A rank and file initiative from workers themselves could overcome this—a strategy that has proven, time and time again, to be a powerful weapon against the nefarious tactics of the bosses while forging the kind of power from below that can win.
Suddenly the mood changes
One of the most interesting things that happened during our conversations was the truly remarkable transformation in the workers’ moods when the topic of rank and file engagement in the strike came up. Suddenly the negative anger and frustration gave way to positive anger and excitement, which also seemed to release an outpouring of creativity as well. As they brainstormed organizing coordinated actions (strikes and rallies); expanding the strike into a broader labor movement; connecting various public and private sector unions (who have been under similar attacks recently—Vancouver and Montreal dock workers, Ontario Teachers, and public sector general strike in Quebec); and of media campaigns designed to counter the mendacious lies in the media, etc., etc.
This is what socialists call a rank and file strategy, and while it takes a lot of initiative and organization by the workers themselves, it has proven to be an extraordinarily powerful weapon against the bosses and their enablers in the media and government. Especially when members are sufficiently angry and willing to fight, which from our visit with workers in Vancouver is evidently the case.
The Canadian State intervenes
On the 13th of December, after feigning neutrality over the labor dispute for four weeks and appearing to respect the rights of workers, the Liberal minister of labor, Steven Mackinnon, announced that he would call a “time out” (as it is known in grade school vernacular) in the negotiations and defer review of the “impasse” (and of CPM’s business model) to the Canadian Industrial Relations Board (CIRB).
As if both sides are equally responsible! This is a move that not only betrays which side the Liberal government is on in this negotiation, but is also the same kind of anti-worker, loophole legislation that the Liberals and other arms of the Canadian government have trotted out to deal with the rising labor strife in the post covid era. This has enraged large sections of the Canadian working class and instigated, as previously mentioned, broad cross sector working class movements in opposition.
While CUPW workers have been ordered back to work, the residual anger remains, especially considering the likelihood that the CIRB (i.e. the state) will implement the cutbacks sought by the CPM in the final agreement, now postponed until May.
In the meantime, this anger creates an opportunity for CUPW members and labor activists to organize the kind of labor movement required to smash the ruling class agenda: a rank-and-file movement where workers feel empowered to bring their anger to the forefront through organizing.
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