Mr. Speaker, in response to (a), there are 195 full- and part-time permanent employees working at Canada Post call centres. All of these permanent employees will continue to have a job at Canada Post. Canada Post will adhere strictly to the terms of its collective agreements and fully respect all job security and staffing provisions.
The number of contract employees fluctuates depending upon staffing requirements and call volumes. All term contracts will be ended in early 2011 providing close to a year of notification as well as pay and benefits.
In response to (b), the Ottawa and Edmonton call centres will close in 2011. Over time, as full- and part-time permanent call centre employees in Winnipeg, Fredericton and Antigonish retire, leave or find other positions within the company, call center work will be transitioned to the new service provider. Canada Post is outsourcing a significant portion of its external call centres operations to an outside service provider. The request for proposal, RFP, will help Canada Post find an appropriate outside service provider to begin managing its call centres.
Canada Post will work closely with the new service provider to ensure that service levels remain intact.
In response to (c), Canada Post issued a request for proposal concerning its external call centre business in order to find appropriate service provider to manage its call centre business. The terms of the request for proposal ensure that customers will continue to call the same phone number, and that their calls will be answered in Canada by Canadian workers.
In response to (d), Canada Post issued a request for proposal concerning its external call centre business in order to find an appropriate service provider to manage its call centre business. The request for proposal was posted on MERX on June 17, 2010. At the end of the process Canada Post will announce the chosen service provider.
In response to (e), this is not applicable