CANADA—Following the Canada Post Corporation (CPC) refusal of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers’ (CUPW) formal request to resolve all outstanding issues through “fair, final and binding arbitration” for both bargaining units, the urban and rural delivery workers CUPW confirmed that a 72-hour strike notice has been issued.
The union notes that it “strongly believes that CPC’s pursuit of a government-imposed vote on its last global offers will not bring lasting labour peace between the parties, regardless of the vote’s outcome.”
“This step was taken in part to respond to the employer’s recent indication that it may unilaterally change working conditions and suspend employee benefits,” noted the union, adding that “this step was also taken to facilitate the continuation of our right to strike that was put on pause by the Canadian Industrial Relations Board in December 2024.”
Despite the strike notice, the union asserts there “is still time to return to the bargaining table. We remain committed to negotiating collective agreements and urge the employer to do the same. Our goal continues to be negotiated collective agreements that support the well-being of workers, the communities we serve, and the sustainability of the public post.”
Canada Post responds that “after 18 months of challenging negotiations with CUPW, Canada Post is seeking a timely and fair resolution to restore stability to the postal system while ensuring employees have a voice in the process by allowing them to vote.”
The Crown corporation goes on to assert that the union’s proposal to send the matter to binding arbitration “would do the opposite.” Canada Post argues that “arbitration would be long and complicated, likely lasting more than a year. This would further extend the uncertainty experienced over the last 18 months and accelerate the company’s significant financial challenges. It would also continue to leave employees without a contract and strip them of their right to vote on a new collective agreement.”
The Crown corporation threw the union’s own previous stance toward binding arbitration back at CUPW, noting that back in October, CUPW President Jan Simpson wrote in a bulletin that, “It’s evident that Canada Post is focused on pushing many of their issues to binding arbitration. This approach would delay the finalization of a complete collective agreement and redirect funds towards lawyers and arbitrators rather than investing in you.”
As of Monday’s press deadline, the prognosis for negotiations looks grim while a government report on the state of Canada Post has muddied the waters some with its dark prognosis for the company’s future given it’s challenges competing with private parcel carriers who can deliver on weekends. That report recommended curtailing door-to-door letter delivery.
The report notes that “the parties need to make changes to their collective agreements: they must allow for the flexible use of part-time employees during the week and on weekends. These jobs should not be gigified jobs, but good jobs, attractive jobs, with employees who come under the umbrella of the applicable collective agreement with normative terms and conditions of employment. The Government of Canada should also end the moratoriums on rural post office closures and community mailbox conversions. If implemented, these changes may return Canada Post to some degree of financial sustainability so it can continue the Universal Service Obligation – for both letter mail and parcels – but in a manner that reflects the 2025 realities of disappearing letter mail and a highly competitive parcel delivery environment. The world has changed, and both Canada Post and CUPW must evolve and adapt. Merely tinkering with the status quo is not an option.”
Among the recommendations in the report were to “amend the Postal Charter. It cannot continue to require impossible-to-meet delivery standards. Daily door-to-door letter mail delivery for individual addresses should be phased out and community mailboxes established wherever practicable. Daily delivery to businesses should be maintained; the moratoriums on rural post office closures and community mailbox conversions should be lifted. There is no persuasive case for a moratorium on closure of once rural, now urban, post offices. Canada Post already has the Delivery Accommodation Program in place for Canadians who cannot access community mailboxes. It should be reviewed and, if need be, enhanced, and it should continue;
The union asserts that Canada Post’s challenges are of its own making and the workers should not bear the brunt of the resolution of those issues. The commission disagrees, responding in its report that CUPW’s assertion that Canada Post’s mismanagement and incompetence are the reasons for the current financial situation: “Even assuming that the company made both good and bad business decisions, the principal reasons for the financial losses are easy to identify: There was the decline of letter mail caused by electronic substitution and the rise of parcel mail, now mostly delivered by competitors…”
Given the current impasse, a national strike, and its dilatory impact on the viability of Canada Post, seems inevitable. Currently, as of press time, the union has only implemented a ban on overtime.
Readers of The Expositor can be rest assured that paper will still appear on Wednesdays at stores and subscribers can locate their paper in a bin near their closest post office should a strike occur (in Sheguiandah, the bin will be located at the community mail boxes near the public works garage). For more information, please see the ad on Page 5A or contact Debbie Bailey at 705-368-2744 or services@manitoulin.com.
