I do not, and never have, supported neutering unions, nor giving too many powers to businesses with unionised workforces to bypass said unions (as in allowing non-union part-time workers). I am firmly in the camp that believes that an employee deserves a fair, livable wage, where they don’t need three jobs to pay for basic family needs. However, it should also be a fair wage for a fair, reasonable amount of work. That is to say that if someone does not put in a full day consistently, they should not be paid as if they did, which appears to have been the case with Canada Post, at one time. They should have enough work to keep them busy enough to earn that union-negotiated salary, but not so busy that they have to rush to the point of cardiac arrest to meet their deadlines.
Putting too much faith in the private sector is not a solution, but a recipe for disaster. Amazon is a good counter-example to Canada Post. We also really need reliable, reasonably-priced delivery to every address in the country; privatising the postal system won’t deliver that.
I also have to say that any action taken at Canada Post should address the cost of management-level employees. There should be no extra-fat salaries there, and definitely nothing resembling “performance pay”, while they’re looking to make excuses for mass layoffs, part-time workers and stagnant salaries. There certainly need to be adjustments and concessions, but I feel those need to start with employees who are drawing a salary while not actually delivering mail and/or parcels. Only then can we start thinking about which services we have to reduce, who needs to receive a layoff notice and which policies need to change. If there are to be part-time workers, they must also have some form of CUPW representation and fair salaries.