Updates
the Standby no. 3
2010 began as a very tumultuous year for me,
both personally and financially. However it ended on a very positive note, thanks to the Toronto Courier
Local and the Courier Worker Centre.
The year began amid troubled times at Rapid Transit, the company I was working for. I had seen some of my colleagues get laid off, usually without notice, and usually not until they had arrived at work for that particular day. They were promptly told that they were laid off, handed in their radios, and were sent home. . .
download the full newsletter as a .pdf
*new* Stop Wage Theft
The Courier Worker Centre
and CUPW Courier local 104 endorse the Stop Wage Theft campaign by the Worker Action Centre. Please follow this link for more information and to see how you can work on the
campaign.
Walkom: Unionizing the Wild West of bike couriers
Thomas Walkom's June 1, 2011 column in the Toronto Star click here to read
The Standby, Volume 1, Number 2
As couriers continue to organize in Toronto, some employers are unsuccessfully trying to stop them. On October 18th, couriers won another victory when the Canada Industrial Relations Board refused to let the TurnAround Couriers Inc. company appeal the couriers’ union certification.
Earlier this year, on June 8th, 2010, the Board recognized the Canadian Union of Postal Workers as the bargaining agent for the couriers at TurnAround. They became the second group to join Local 104, the CUPW courier local in Toronto and start bargaining for a better deal. Scheduled dates for bargaining are set for November 24th and December 8th, 2010.
Click here to download the complete newsletter as a pdf.
Bulletin #319:The Canadian Union of Postal Workers just got a little bigger
In Toronto, three new bargaining units of couriers have been added to our ranks through successful applications to the Canadian Industrial Relations Board. Our new brothers and sisters deserve a warm welcome from postal workers everywhere. read more. . .
Volume 1, Number 1 of The Standby, our newsletter, is now available!
If you’re a same day courier in Toronto, you know that the bosses’ most frequent answer to any question asked by a courier is, “if you don’t like it, go work somewhere else.” This is not an adequate answer to questions about sub-standard pay, workplace injuries, discrimination, and a host of other issues in the courier industry.
Couriers at T.O. Turtle Express, Action Messenger, Turnaround Courier, and the bikes and walkers at QMS have replied by organizing with the Canadian Union of Postal Workers and applying for certification as the first members of Local 104. These couriers are standing up for themselves and using their right to organize their workplace, and get a real contract by working together.
Click here to download the complete newsletter as a pdf.
The Sweatshop on Wheels
Same-day messengers-on bikes, on foot or by car-are the not-so-distant cousins of Canada Post workers, yet the reality of their jobs could not be more different. While the will of Canada Post management must be tempered by the voice of the union, couriers have no such power. What does that mean in practice?
On the one hand there are the companies: they wield all the power, make all the profits, while off-loading all their costs (and therefore, much of their risks) onto the backs of couriers. Then there are the couriers: hard-working, many of them recent immigrants (lots of whom have other expertise they are blocked from pursuing). They are misclassified by their companies as "independent contractors," "brokers," or "owner-operators" in a transparent- but so far successful-attempt to block unionization, to offload all overhead onto couriers, and to save money by side-stepping the Canada Labour Code and other legislation. Thus, couriers do not get Employment Insurance, they do not get Canada Pension Plan coverage, most are not covered by Workers Compensation, they are not guaranteed minimum wage, they do not get vacation pay or statutory holiday pay, and they must pay all their own costs from gas and insurance to radio fees for the pleasure of speaking with their dispatchers. Most work on commission, which means their paycheques vary from week to week, but in many cases they make less than minimum wage when you try to break it down to an hourly rate. It is, in essence, a sweatshop on wheels.
Canada Post dreams of the day that their workforce will be as vulnerable, and therefore, as pliable as same-day messengers. Rather than wait for the day that concessions and recessions have rolled back postal workers' jobs to that low-point, the Canadian Union of Postal Workers is going on the offensive. If we can bring couriers into our union, we can start raising their standards of work, and developing their capacity to fight.
CUPW has already organized over 400 couriers into the union in Montreal, Ottawa, Winnipeg, Saskatoon and Red Deer, and are currently organizing couriers in Toronto and Edmonton. At a recent meeting we organized for couriers in Toronto, four couriers from other cities who have joined CUPW spoke to Toronto couriers and answered questions. When asked the question "Do you make more money now that you are in the union?" all four couriers immediately answered "yes." But crucial non-monetary gains have been made as well, giving couriers a collective voice, job security, protection against harassment and unjust dismissal.
Toronto is the largest courier market in the country. To do it justice, we have to take this organizing drive seriously, and that is why we have dedicated two full-time coordinators, and hundreds of hours of union-leave to this campaign. It will be a long campaign, but at the end of it, the bulk of Toronto's courier industry will be a part of our union. That's how we're going to take this sweatshop on wheels, and turn it into a sought-after, well-paid and dignified job.
Farsi language article: (in 2 pages)
http://fa.shahrvand.com/2008-07-14-20-49-09/42-2008-07-14-20-33-14/3678--q-q
http://fa.shahrvand.com/2008-07-14-20-49-09/42-2008-07-14-20-33-14/3678--q-q-?start=1
Ryerson University
http://ryersonfreepress.ca/site/archives/tag/bike-courriers