My name is François Senneville. I'm very happy to be here, a little nervous, but happy. If I'm a bit nervous, it's obviously because the subject on the agenda is dear to my heart.
As national director of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers, it's my job to protect the good jobs and the postal service. I am also an employee of the post office. I have worked on the floor at Canada Post for almost 15 years. So, you'll understand that this is very important to me.
First of all, I want to thank you for allowing various stakeholders to come and tell the committee what they think would be a good thing or a good future for Canada Post. So here's the flower, but I also came with a pot to carry the flower because I want to talk to you about the online survey and what people have begun to respond.
I would simply like to say that I find the questions in the survey are very biased. That's the impression the organization I represent has, and so do some people I've spoken to. The questions imply to us that Canada Post will not be saved by cutting costs and services within the organization.
I have followed a bit of the committee's work recently. I tried to see what arguments have been made and so on. The first thing that caught my attention is how communication has been made over time at Canada Post, not just with the union, but also with the general public, externally and with its partners.
For instance, when Canada Post's five-point action was announced, there was general dismay. We spent about two hours refusing to believe that the announcement had been made because we had never been told about it. When we finally believed and understood that it was really a plan that was coming, it was already too late. The telephone rang and the media wanted to talk to us. We realized then, through the media, that an announcement had been made.
I mention this because the announcement of the five-point action plan obviously follows a report by the Conference Board stating that we were very alarmist about the amounts of Canada Post's deficits until 2020.
I don't know if you have the document I submitted when I arrived. If you didn't receive it, I have paper copies for all of you.
The document outlines Canada Post's profits the dividends paid to the government, and the taxes that Canada Post paid in the last 30 years. These figures relate to the Canada Post Corporation, namely, Canada Post and its affiliated partners.
The calculation for 2010 to 2015 clearly shows that Canada Post made a profit and has nothing to fear about any deficit. I know that the figure of $1 billion has been mentioned. A little earlier, $700 million was mentioned. I heard the question.
However, looking at the numbers that Canada Post announced, we can't conclude that Canada Post is in a deficit situation at this point. There are changes, I understand that and we accept it. However, we aren't in a situation where the corporation needs to be saved because it's on the point of collapse.
Another important element is that when Canada Post announced its five-point action plan, it stated that no jobs would be lost, that everything would be done by attrition and that no one would be laid off. This statement is partly bamboozlement. Perhaps there won't be any lay-offs and attrition will take place within the corporation, but the reality is this: when postal boxes are installed in a community, the number of post office employees reduces markedly.
Of course, no Canada Post employee will be laid off after community mailboxes are installed, but there will be men and women of single parent families who work during the day and are transferred to a night job. Their family lives will be turned upside down, with a huge impact on those around them. In communities where the number of post office employees has decreased from 50 to 35, a significant financial impact will also be felt locally.
I don't have much time left to talk about appendix T of the collective agreement between the CUPW and Canada Post. One article of the agreement sets out a full process that costs the government absolutely nothing and in which the parties sit at the same table to discuss any reasonable initiatives by the corporation. This includes postal banks and any other initiatives that the government might encourage Canada Post to try. The process costs the government nothing and is part of a negotiation set out in the collective agreement.
A copy of Appendix T is with the documents I left at the door.
I know you do not have it in hand.