Human Resource Management: MANAGEMENT & EMPLOYEE RELATIONS

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Canada Postal Workers Union Case/Negotiation Plan

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SIGNATURE: Shadi Shadman, Harwinder Kaur,Simarpreet Kaur, Pawandeep Kaur, Peyman Bemani, and Aseem Goyal

Task 1

Canadian Union of Postal Workers remained steadfast in its fight for the CanadaPost workers’ rights. The agreement that had been in place between Canada Post Corporation and the Canadian Union of Postal Workersexpired on January 31, 2018, andled to a stalemate that delayed the signing of a new agreement after the disagreement between CUPW and its employer over unmet demands. CUPW workers are split into urban and rural and suburban" carriers, comprising 50,000 workers (Sciarpelletti, 2018). In 2019, the employees were still working on the old contract after the federal government ordered them to go back to work after a series of strikes. As late as December 2019, there was still no new contract, and this was pissing off the workers and the union since the old agreement had been rejected by the employees their representative body, CUPW.

The old agreement still holds the old work conditions and old work rules that had been a matter of concern for the workers' failure to enter the new contract after the expiry of the previous agreement on January 31, 2018. The employees demanded better pay, assurance of job security, and minimum guaranteed hours as the old contract had poor pay. Many were forced to work overtime, limiting their time with the family and other personal activities. According to Arora and Wagh (2017), an absence of work-life balance leads to stress and job dissatisfaction that result in work-life conflict at the workplace. Looking at the case between the Canadian Union of Postal Workers and Canada Post Corporation, forced overtime and overburdening were unmet conditions and contributed to the strike because of stress and job dissatisfaction among the employees. The employees also wanted an amendment in the health and safety measures, service expansion, and equality for RSMCs as part of the new contract (Canadian Union of Post Workers, 2018).

Seeing this, the legislation commanding the end of the strike among the employees, Bill C-89, was quickly passed into the Canadian House of Common in the same year, Nov. 24, 2018, coming into effect after just three days. Once the Bill came into effect, the two parties appointed people to come to the table for negotiations. On December 28, 2018, a mediator was appointed as a neutral party to over the negotiation. On November 18, 2018, Elizabeth MacPherson, the arbitrator, requested a second arbitration extension and was granted by the labor minister to have it forwarded to June 30, 2020 (Canadian Union of Post Workers, 2019).

The rural and suburban carriers' contract was due December 31, 2019, while the urban carriers' contract will be due January 30, 2020. Despite the C-89 bill, Canada Post did not adhere to the overtime clause as workers were still working five days a week (Sciarpelletti,2018). According to one member of the unions, referred to as Jacobs, Canada Post was heavily dependent on overtime, so the employer ignored the clause (Sciarpelletti, 2018). This angered everyone, and there was the need for a solution given workers' dissatisfaction was compromising mails and packages delivery in the country.

Negotiation Process

Preparation-

It is essential to listen and understand others' perspectives concerning any problem for better negotiating (Horrach, 2020). Likewise, under this case, the problem of overtime, less pay, etc., all were the problems that need proper guidance.

Exchange of Information-

Both the parties should talk about their needs, desires, interests, etc., regarding achieving the desired goals. It is indispensable to share all information honestly for better decision-making (Diaries, 2020).

  Do not hang up on one issue-

Sometimes, it is essential to leave the issue with no excellent conclusion instead of wasting time (Horrach, 2020). Similarly, in this case, a new agreement was made for the workers, but overtime is not considered.

 Bargaining

It is one of the essential factors in the whole process. Under this, all the necessary steps are taken for the decision-making, and they will focus on the topics essential in their perspective (Diaries, 2020). As mentioned in the case summary, the new agreement came into force, but there was nothing for the overtime clause.

 Conclusion-

After the whole discussion, the parties decided (Diaries, 2020). Like in this case, Bill C-89 was passed into the Canadian House of Common on Nov 24, 2018. So, under this, the new Bill C-89 was the conclusion.

 Execution-

Only planning is not sufficient; it is also necessary to implement the decision or strategies made under the decision-making step (Diaries, 2020). For instance, under the Canada Post Corporation case, the new bill was passed, and it came into force precisely after the three days of its passing. So, execution is as essential as decision making.

Task 2

The negotiations that took place in this specific case were, to a great extent, unsuccessful. Kammar(2016) has defined essentials of successful collective bargaining among are listed “willingness to give and take”, positive attitude”, “fair practices” and “continuous dialogue”. However, as pointed out in the previous part, these criteria were not met during the negotiations. Interestingly, one of the critical rights of unions, which is the freedom to go on strike, was prohibited from the postal workers explicitly through Bill C-89, and fines were considered if more strikes were taking place by the workers (Statutes of Canada, 2018). These conditions were extremely unfavorable for the union and the workers, and as it was legislation, they were unable to dispute it. CUPW accused the government of violating the constitutional rights of its members at some point (Harris, 2018).

While the overall process of negotiations was highly timely, the agreement between CUPW and the Canada Post Corporation in 2020 seems to have addressed the main concerns of the unionized workers, which are discussed in the following section.

The CUPW received a contract from the government on Nov 24, 2018. The Urban and Rural suburban were having different demands, so they split into two groups. Urban area employees demanded more pay and rural employees were seeking job security first (Sciarpelletti, 2019).

The newly negotiated contract contains:

· Wage Increment: According to new contract from 2018 to February 2021.The employees of Canada post are entitled to have 2% increment till 2019, 2.5% in 2020 and 2.9% in 2021.

· Union Education Fund: Before the 2018 contract, Canada Post paid 3% to the union for education. After negotiating, they agree to increase by 50 cents. So, employees can get 3.5 cents instead of 3 cents for education. For the union education fund, the employees can get 3.5 cents after a 50%increase after the new contract, which is a highly likely satisfaction goal for the employees.

· Absence Coverage: The previous contract of CUPW did not deal with absence coverage. As per negotiation, the corporation shall take responsibility to cover absence in the form of 3 installations. The corporation will be responsible for covering the absent employee's duties in effect from September 1, 2020.

· Short-term Disability Plan: STDP was also the main reason behind the strike of Canada post employees. After negotiation, they finalize 10% of pay will go to STDP. On the other hand, both parties agree to show medical evidence to benefit from avoiding fraudulent activity.

· Injury on Duty Pay: The contract that ends in 2018 enabled employees to get paid if they got injured while on duty. The union was demanding the same for the new contract. As a result of negotiation, this benefit will continue for employees. However, the payment of benefits will not be 100% of the salary. It will be 75% of the gross wage of employees (CUPW Agreement, 2020).

Looking at all the different aspects of the negotiations, it can be seen that they were not in favour of the workers to a full extent. There has been the slightest increment in the payment each year, starting from 2019, almost 0.5% for each year. Due to this, the workers would not be able to see a lot of increase in their wages, and there is a significantly less chance for the growth of the employees. There could have been a more percentage increase in wages to make the negotiations fully acceptable for the workers (Zeytinoglu, 2005).

One important thing that new negotiations followed was the coverage of absence for the employees; this will allow the employees to be more flexible and happier while working with the organization, which is important for the employees (Tucker et al., 2014) as the corporation holds the respective responsibility of managing the duties of the employees.

Another great opportunity after the negotiations were the deduction of 10% of the pay to STDP, which will allow the customers not to buy a different medical plan and will help to cover the medical expenses. The important aspect of the new negotiations stated the employees would get 75% of the pay they are entitled to if they got injured. In contrast, some would suggest that the employees get 100% payment to cover day-to-day expenses.

References

Agreement between Canada post Corporation and Canada Union of Postal workers- Urban postal Operations. (January 31, 2022).CUPW. https://www.cupw.ca

Arora, C., &Wagh, R. (2017). Importance of work-life balance. International Journal of New Technology and Research, 3(6), 263283.

Bryden, J. (2018, November 26).Senate passes legislation to end Canada Post strike. CTV News.https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/senate-passes-legislation-to-end-canada-post-strike-1.4192219

Canadian Union of Post Workers. (2018, October16). CUPW Issues 72-Hour Strike Notices. CUPW. https://www.cupw.ca/en/cupw-issues-72-hour-strike-notices

Canadian Union of Post Workers. (2019, December 20). Arbitration Update. CUPW. https://www.cupw.ca/en/arbitration-update-9

Diaries, H. (2020, September 29). Mastering The Art of Negotiation. HarappaEducation. https://harappa.education/harappa-diaries/negotiation-skills-process-types-and-strategies

Harris, K. (2018, November 22). “We’re outraged”: Union rips Liberal back-to-work bill for Canada Post carriers. CBC. https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canada-post-back-to-work-legislation-1.4915974

Horrach, R. (2020, August 21). A Guide To Succeeding In Business Negotiations. Forbes.Com. https://www.forbes.com/sites/allbusiness/2020/08/21/guide-to-succeeding-in-business-negotiations/?sh=455c8404b047

Kammar, S. (2016, February 2). Essentials of Successful Collective Bargaining. Your Article Library. https://www.yourarticlelibrary.com/hrm/collective-bargaining/essentials-of-successful-collective-bargaining/75370

Sciarpelletti, L. (2018, November 24). Canada post workers still without new contract 1 year after back-to-work bill passed. CBC. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/canada-post-workers-still-without-contract-1-year-after-bill-c-89-1.5399085

Sciarpelletti, L. (2019,December 17).Canada post workers still without new contract 1 year after back-to-work bill passed.CBC News. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/canada-post-workers-still-without-contract-1-year-after-bill-c-89-1.5399085

Statutes of Canada. (2018, November 26). Government Bill (House of Commons) C-89 (42-1) - Royal Assent - Postal Services Resumption and Continuation Act - Parliament of Canada. Www.parl.ca. https://www.parl.ca/DocumentViewer/en/42-1/bill/C-89/royal-assent

Tucker, S., Diekrager, D., Turner, N., &Kelloway, K. E., (2014). Work-related injury underreporting among young workers: Prevalence, gender differences, and explanations for underreporting. Journal of safety Research, 67-73.

Zeytinoglu, I.U. (2005, April 12). Negotiation Issues for Part-Time Workers: The Impact of Occupation. Industiral Relations, 305-320