The courier industry in Canada is rapidly expanding. This is due to a number of factors including greater international trade in goods; more use of just-in-time inventory strategies; and the rapid development of internet commerce. Significant technological and organizational developments within the industry have led to greater segmentation of markets. As a result, large national and international parcel delivery firms dominate the international and intercity markets, while there has been a proliferation of smaller firms in the same-city, same-day markets. The research findings from a case study conducted in Winnipeg reveal that couriers in certain parts of the industry are relatively well paid, with benefits and employment conditions negotiated by their union, while others are independent contractors with low incomes, no benefits and insecure tenure. The article compares the experience of these two types of couriers and examines what is being done to improve the terms and conditions of work for same-day couriers. It is concluded that nature of the same day courier industry means that union organizing will be very difficult and there is no guarantee of success. Unionization, however, is a necessary prerequisite for the improvement of conditions and wages in this growing industry.
In most communities the relationship between trade unions and social activist organizations is usually underdeveloped and uneven. Likewise trade unions usually have no organic connections to unorganized workers and contribute little to the task of representing these workers in their struggles against employers and government agencies. The Workers Organizing and Resource Centre (WORC), a collective administered by trade unionists and social activists, is an attempt to bridge this solitude. Since it was established in 1998, WORC has been the home to numerous working class advocacy organizations and a hub of progressive activity in Winnipeg. Its mandate is to facilitate the development of community organizations, provide advocacy work for non union workers, and to assist in organizing the unorganized. This paper describes the function that WORC plays in the Winnipeg progressive community and discusses the relationship to its sole source of funding, the national office of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers. Dans la plupart des communautés, les relations entre les syndicats et les autres organisations d’action sociale sont habituellement sous-développées et inégales. Les syndicats n’ont habituellement pas de lien organique avec les travailleurs et les travailleuses non syndiqués et ne contribuent guère à leur représentation dans les luttes qu’ils livrent aux employeurs et aux organismes gouvernementaux. Le Workers Organizing and Resource Centre (WORC), collectif administré par des militantes et militants syndicaux et sociaux, tente de combler cette lacune. Depuis sa création, en 1998, le WORC a accueilli de nombreuses organisations militantes de la classe travailleuse et a constitué une plaque tournante de l’activité progressiste à Winnipeg. Il a pour mandat de faciliter le développement d’organisations communautaires, d’attribuer des tâches de défense de cause aux travailleurs et travailleuses non syndiqués et d’aider à la syndicalisation des personnes non syndiquées. L’article décrit le rôle que le WORC joue dans la communauté progressiste de Winnipeg et le rapport qu’il entretient avec son unique source de fonds, qui est le bureau national du Syndicat des travailleurs et travailleuses des postes
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