Thank you very much.
I would like to thank the committee for giving us the opportunity to make this presentation today.
My name is Carl Girouard and I have been a Canada Post employee since 1991. I was a letter carrier from 1991 to 2006. I then started to work full-time for the Canadian Union of Postal Workers. I am a national union representative for grievances. I have been taking care of grievances for more than 10 years. Since 2011, I have also been a member of the National Health and Safety Committee, the steering committee, and I have been the union co-chair since 2015.
I must tell you that we have gone through various periods at Canada Post. There are many cases of harassment and violence in the workplace. In my experience, in the 1990s and early 2000s, it was possible to talk to supervisors, and common sense still had a place in those discussions. Right now, our members feel that they are no longer treated as human beings, but that they are seen more as numbers, figures, money.
At Canada Post, violence and harassment take different forms. In some cases, it is violence from the public, from disgruntled customers. There is also violence or harassment between employees. At any rate, I want to talk about the harassment that I call systemic, the harassment generated by Canada Post's system and procedures.
Take, for example, the management of absences and, above all, the management of overtime. At the outset, those two principles may seem laudable, but the way they are applied takes away from their legitimacy.
We strongly believe that Canada Post provides financial incentives to supervisors to reduce costs, absenteeism and overtime. This is what drives them to harass and intimidate our members in the workplace. That is why Mr. Trudeau was asked a question about it in Winnipeg; it is a real problem.
The collective agreement specifies that the measurement of work is based on averages. An average, by definition, implies that 50% of people can be faster and the other 50% can be slower. Yet everyone is required to get the same results, the same average, in terms of time. I will explain why this average itself is problematic.
The guide for supervisors managing overtime includes grids and tools to determine whether problems come from somewhere other than the workers, such as the measurement of work or the route. The disciplinary measures imposed on our members show that those tools are not always used. Canada Post does not take into account the experience, the particular problems that may occur on certain days or any exceptional circumstances. It asks our members to justify the time they claim minute by minute.
So evaluation is problematic. It is important to understand that the evaluation of a letter carrier's daily workload is based on what has happened in the last 12 months. Then there is an enforcement process that lasts six months. As a result, when new routes are implemented in a post office, some time has already passed.
In its own communications, Canada Post says that the volume of packages delivered in 2017 has increased by 22% over the previous year. We see that the curve is going up and we quickly understand why the data are no longer appropriate. According to our analysis, the quantity of packages delivered daily by letter carriers has increased by 70% since 2011; it's still not a long time.
Our members work overtime in good faith, in order to complete their work or to provide good service to the public. It has nothing to do with cases of fraud. I can tell you that, in terms of time worked, if there are cases of fraud, Canada Post takes action and fires the people involved. Our members deserve to be thanked, not bullied and harassed in their places of work.
Canada Post keeps a list of employees who work the most overtime in Canada. I can tell you that, when their name is on the list, they become a target.
In the last 10 years, since 2008, 2,875 grievances involving cases of harassment and bullying by Canada Post supervisors have been referred to adjudication.
We have an employee assistance program, which allows them to get support, to access psychologists, among other things, and to talk to people. In 2016 and 2017, two-thirds of the requests from the CUPW letter carrier group were related to work-related issues, stress situations or social isolation. Some people were even at risk of suicide.
So the situation at Canada Post is alarming. I wanted to take the time to explain it to you.
I will be pleased to answer your questions about Bill C-65 in the discussions that will follow.
Thank you.