| 03-26-2020

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Postal Workers Willing To Refuse Dangerous Working Conditions

Cousins & Comrades,

First off, a big union welcome to the latest giant batch of emails added to our local email list, and a big thanks to our volunteers out there still collecting contact info! Included below are a press release and open letter sent just moments ago to the CPC CEO, all senior management of CPC Edmonton, some Government of Canada contacts, and all the major Edmonton media outlets. More interviews are scheduled over the next couple of days, so, if any news agencies decide to run a story about the concerns of our members, we will be sure to share them over the listerve.

Stay calm and take care.

In Solidarity,

Roland Schmidt

Canadian Union of Postal Workers
President - Local 730 - Edmonton & Affiliates


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 20/03/06

Postal Workers Willing To Refuse Dangerous Working Conditions To Protect Public
Outbreak Already Put Newfoundland At Risk, Edmonton Will Be Next If Standards Ignored

Edmonton, AB: Canada Post is mostly saying the right words about the need to prepare their facilities to weather the COVID19 pandemic but, in practice, working conditions remain dangerous. It would be one thing if postal workers only had the capacity to infect themselves with COVID19; the reality, however, is that unless drastic, immediate safety measures are taken, Canada Post will also pose a threat to the public.

Echoing the concerns of local frontline postal workers, Edmonton CUPW President, Roland Schmidt said, “At least two postal workers in St. John's, Newfoundland have officially tested positive for C19, resulting in the suspension of all processing and delivery there. This means that the virus was transmitted unknowingly throughout their facilities, onto mail and parcels (where the virus can live up to 24 hours on cardboard, or up to 3 days on plastic) and into the community before quarantine was enacted. For not taking adequate preventative measures, CPC became a vector of contagion in Newfoundland and more of the public will be spreading the virus there until symptoms start to show over the next 14 days... It cannot be stressed enough that every link in the processing chain that is the Edmonton & area post office needs to be operating at top safety standards; if just one link breaks, we go from being an essential service to a plague caravan and a substantial danger to the public.”

To ensure the safety of its members and the Canadian public, CUPW Edmonton has submitted a list of expectations (attached below) that require acknowledgement and detailed explanations of implementation by 2:00pm, Friday, March 27, 2020. Further, these safety expectations are to be actually implemented city-wide by 12:00am, Sunday, March 29, 2020. Failure to do so will signal to Edmonton postal workers that Canada Post is not committed to ensuring working conditions to maintain the safe processing and delivery of mail, or protecting the public.


Open Letter to Mr. Kobitowich and the Edmonton & area CPC managerial team,

In an interview with CBC, company spokesperson Jon Hamilton claimed that CPC never took the position of denying temp workers paid leave for needing to self-isolate or quarantine. Our members are enraged at CPC for not only reversing their March 16, 2020 position on March 20, 2020 of granting said leave, but also for being lied to by an official company spokesperson about CPC’s behaviour throughout. In an effort to avoid future denials, as well as maintain accountability and transparency, our office will be conducting COVID19 discussions with CPC strictly through email moving forward. A lack of response to our concerns and requests will be received as refusal to work with us to navigate this crisis. A lack of communication will be relayed as such to our members as well as the media. CBC’s investigative department has expressed great interest in our struggle to assert postal worker and public safety, and we intend to keep them updated every step of the way.

The perspective on Edmonton workfloors is that CPC has reacted too slowly to implement proper safety protocol, and that only pressure from a few of our more vocal depots has forced CPC into proper action. At least two postal workers in St. John's, Newfoundland have officially tested positive for C19, resulting in the suspension of all processing and delivery there. This means that the virus was transmitted unknowingly throughout their facilities, onto mail and parcels (where the virus can live up to 24 hours on cardboard, or up to 3 days on plastic) and into the community before quarantine was enacted. For not taking adequate preventative measures, CPC became a vector of contagion in Newfoundland and more of the public will be spreading the virus there until symptoms start to show over the next 14 days.

As I've been saying to every manager I've had the chance to speak with, an Edmonton facility getting contaminated is inevitable: the question is, were our safety measures robust enough to downgrade a full-scale outbreak into only a few people getting infected? What we do now will determine what happens when those who have unknowingly had the virus inevitably start to show symptoms over the next week.

Before I get into the safety expectations of our members, I will share that our local Health & Safety officer, Rashpal, and I spent about 3 hours each day (March 25 & 26, 2020) at the Edmonton processing plant (EMPP) listening to the concerns of our members in all sections. What was legitimately shocking to us was the disconnect between what had been agreed upon in our calls with Mr. Kobitowich and the lack of implementation of those agreed upon safety measures throughout the EMPP. I'll elaborate more in the expectations below but some notable examples included a lack of supervisor presence to persistently, and respectfully, encourage workers to maintain physical distance (we saw between 8-12 people congested in the south foyer), a lack of regularly scheduled cleaning (we held 3 consecutive lunch room meetings between 11am-1pm and did not once see the tables or microwaves cleaned), as well as a complete absence of sanitation kits (disposable rags, gloves, spray bleach solutions) in the lunch room or at any of the high contact work areas. 

With that, our office, on behalf of our members, is formally expressing our expectations of the following to be fully implemented by 12am, Sunday, March 29, 2020 in all Edmonton & area facilities in order for our members to feel safe enough to work without further endangering ourselves and the Canadian public. If you do not respond to this email by 2:00pm, Friday, March 27, 2020 with a detailed, intended plan of action, it will be received as a message that CPC is not interested in taking the concerns of our members seriously to adequately navigate this crisis to keep our members and the public safe.

This message is not sent lightly, and we sincerely hope for a serious commitment from all levels of CPC management in Edmonton to help us be as prepared as possible for when this crisis deepens. It cannot be stressed enough, that every link in the processing chain that is the Edmonton & area post office needs to be operating at top safety standards; if just one link breaks, we go from being an essential service to a plague caravan and a substantial danger to the public. 

These expectations should not be considered as final. As the Edmonton & area post office continues to adapt its safety threshold to the evolving situation, our union office will continue to make the expectations of our members known to ensure ongoing safety for our members and the public. This message and all the accompanying expectations will be shared with our media contacts to follow-up with you. We expect a response by 2:00pm, Friday, Mar 27th, 2020 detailing how you will be enacting each of these safety expectations. Our members are giving you this opportunity to prove you are committed to protecting their safety, and that of the Canadian public, before using their right to refuse unsafe work under our collective agreement and the Canadian Labour Code as a last resort.

Regards,

Roland Schmidt

Canadian Union of Postal Workers
President - Local 730 - Edmonton & Affiliates

 

CUPW 730 Observations of Current Working Conditions

Operational Expectation of CPC by 12:00am, Sunday, March 29, 2020

Depot Decongestion Initiatives: 

  1. Non-Essential Mail - Members are needlessly having to increase exposure with other workers in order to prepare non-essential product (admail, phonebooks, etc).
      
  2. Staggered Starts - depots are still needlessly creating overlap between waves.





  3. Clearances - Final trucks and SLB/RPO clearances - staggered starts are undermined by members having to wait for clearances and RPOs which creates a congestion bottleneck as members return to depot.



  4. Staff Talks - All members do not yet understand the full gravity of our situation, or know all the official facts about the virus.

Depot Decongestion Initiatives:

  1. Non-Essential Mail - All preparation and delivery of non-essential mail will be suspended. Minimizing exposure decreases the probability of spread.

  2. Staggered Starts - There should be 4 waves to decongest each depot as much as possible. There should be a 1.5 hour gap between start times with surface cleaning either happening throughout the entire prep part of the day or between each wave. No worker should be working directly beside or behind another worker.

  3. Clearances - All clearance timelines should be suspended until the crisis is over. Members should be able to clear based on convenience during any part of their newly staggered wave. Any product returned to the depot passed previously enforced times (either for RPO or EMPP transfers) will go the following shuttle.


  4. Staff Talks - Daily safety reminders and non-disciplinary reinforcement of physical distancing of at least 2 meters using facts about the virus to educate members of its threat.

 

EMPP Decongestion Initiatives: 

 

  1. Physical Distancing - The south foyer, a nook near the south foyer (near parcels) and the lunch room still prominently exhibit social crowding. The south foyer especially had at least 10 people crowded together for lunch.



  2. Swipes/Logins - Management is under the impression that touching the ATR terminals is not necessary to start a shift. This is incorrect; I personally witnessed swipe-ins where the member had to touch the terminal as much as 5 times, while swiping.



  3. Parcel Team-Lifts - Every belt has random members overriding physical distancing to help another member lift a heavy parcel. This needlessly exposes more members to infection spread.




  4. ML Spacing - For certain sequenced plans (850, 888, etc) members feel pressured to work near one another to be able to keep up with the pace of the letters coming out. In the mono-breakdown area, members are congested due to lack of space.






  5. Staff Talks - Certain sections have their staff talks in condensed, high noise areas, forcing needless physical congestion.

 

EMPP Decongestion Initiatives: 

 

  1.  Physical Distancing - Daily safety reminders and non-disciplinary reinforcement of physical distancing. Supervisors should be assigned to monitor known congestion points to politely, and non-aggressively encourage members not to congregate. This is for everyone's safety. With persistent advocacy, physical distancing will become the new normal.

  2. Swipes/Logins - All swipes/logins at any point of the shift should be unconditionally suspended. Members should report to their section supervisor at the start of shift to be marked for attendance. If the member works overtime, the member will report to their section supervisor to make sure they document what time they are leaving, and how much overtime they have worked.

  3. Parcel Team-Lifts - This is a concern with no easy solution as of yet. I will continue to solicit parcel section members for feedback. As it stands the possibility should be explored to temporarily restrict non-essential shipments over a certain size and weight to eliminate the need for any team-lifting (which will help enforce physical  distancing in the depots as well).

  4. ML Spacing - No member should have to work directly next to another. Plans should be changed based on member recommendations to allow for at least 2 meters distance between workers (as was submitted from Shift 2). Until plan changes are implemented, only one worker should sweep one line at a time. The mono breakdown bullpen should only have 2 monos per bullpen with only 1 person working a mono at once. Another bullpen should be created to allow for 2 other members to separately work 2 other monos.

  5.  Staff Talks - All talks should be held away from high noise areas in areas big enough to allow for physical distancing. Management needs to lead by example in this practice and not encourage circumstances of physical congestion.

 

Facility Cleaning Regimes:

 

  1. All Facilities - Cleaning schedules, with descriptions of the cleaning being done, has not been provided as requested which leaves members unsure if adequate cleaning is being done. CPC claims that cleaning is being done but the membership is not convinced which creates a prevailing sentiment of anxiety.

 

Facility Cleaning Regimes:

 

  1. All Facilities - Each high contact surface (including break areas and lunch rooms) and work area needs to be thoroughly disinfected either during, or between each wave or shift to eliminate potential cross contamination between waves and shifts. If contamination does break, this will theoretically prevent it from spreading between shifts and waves. Detailed schedules of the type and frequency of cleaning should be shared with the union as well as posted throughout facilities, as well as staff talked to instill a sense of confidence in members that CPC is deploying a sufficient cleaning regime.

 

Facility Sanitation:

 

  1. Depots - Insufficient sanitation kits. Members are expected to share a few bottles between an entire depot. As a result, adequate cleaning is not performed between each wave on high contact areas.

  2. EMPP -  As of Mar 25, the EMPP does not have any sanitation kits. This is especially problematic as 600 people are constantly touching the same surfaces all day.





  3. EMPP Washup Time -  Our members are no longer given sanctioned time to washup and the end of their shifts.

 

Facility Sanitation:

 

  1. Depots - Sanitation kits (nitrile gloves, disposable rags, and spray bottle bleach solutions) should be supplied to each work area and mail case thereby enabling a mass sanitation effort and decreasing cross-contamination between workers sharing materials.

  2. EMPP - Sanitation kits (nitrile gloves, disposable rags, and spray bottle bleach solutions) should be supplied to each work area with high contact surfaces (wherever an ergo lift is stationed, any ledge where product is fed/received, every parcel run out, every soration case. every computer terminal, etc) thereby enabling a mass sanitation effort and decreasing cross-contamination between workers sharing materials.

  3. EMPP Washup Time - Five minute shift-end wash-up periods will be reinstated for all EMPP employees for the duration of this crisis. 

 

Retail Operations:

  1. Safety Equipment - Despite past assurances from the company, not all corporate retail outlets are sufficiently stocked with hand sanitizer or equipped with a plexiglass barrier.




  2. Signage and Physical  Distancing - Not all retail facilities have adequate signage warning customers not to come into the facility if exhibiting symptoms or have travelled. Tape markings have not been placed on all floors to indicate adequate physical distancing between customers. 

 

Retail Operations:

  1. Safety Equipment - Retail workers will not open operations unless sufficient hand sanitizer is available. A detailed timeline will be provided to the union of when plexiglass barriers will be installed in each retail facility. If timelines extend beyond Mar 28,2020 translucent polymer sheeting will be hung from the ceiling to be used as a temporary barrier.

  2. Signage and Physical  Distancing - Proper signage and physical distancing tape markers will be placed in all retail facilities. Retail workers will be encouraged by management to direct customers where to stand, and to wait outside if necessary as a measure to reduce needless congestion. 

 

Special Leave For Temps/OCREs:

  1. CPC Hypocrisy - On March 20, 2020 CPC contradicted its March 16, 2020 position that all temp employees would be granted special leave if directed to self-isolate or quarantine. Local management is claiming they will not extend paid leave to members in this circumstance.

 

Special Leave For Temps/OCREs:

  1. CPC Hypocrisy - In the rare instance that a temp or OCRE is directed to self-isolate or quarantine by CPC or Health Services, CPC must extend the same special leave provisions to them as every other member. This is important because a financially distressed member will be incentivized to come to work while sick instead of having the option to stay home thereby protecting his co-workers and the public from infection. 

 

Safety Equipment:

 

  1. PPE - No facilities have sustainable amounts of hand sanitizer or N95 masks.

 

Safety Equipment:

 

  1. PPE - Any lack of these items should be clearly communicated to our members along with timelines of when they can be expected.

 

Professional Oversight: 

 

  1. Third Party Professional Advice - No governmental sanctioned expert on proper pandemic safety procedures has toured our facilities to give analysis or recommendations on how to adequately secure our operations to insure worker and public safety. 

 

Professional Oversight: 

 

  1. Third Party  Professional Advice - If Canada Post is truly considered an essential service needed to help Canadians navigate this crisis, our operations should meet the same standards of any other field expected to serve the public without inadvertently posing a threat to it. Our local should be notified of the soonest possible availability of such a professional to tour our operations along with management and union appointed representatives to give analysis and recommendations as to how Canada Post can improve, maintain working conditions to ensure the safety of our members and the public.

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