A Canada Post Truck in the GTA. (Photo by Raysonho @ Open Grid Scheduler / Grid Engine. Public Domain.)
Canada Post says it is considering its next step after unionized workers overwhelmingly rejected the Crown corporation’s latest contract offer, worsening a long-running labour standoff and risking further disruption to postal service.
Voting on the offer concluded Aug. 1, with the 55,000-strong Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) voting to reject the deal, which would have raised wages 13 percent over four years and created more part-time postal jobs.
CUPW President Jan Simpson said in mid-July that Canada Post, backed by Ottawa, was “trying to weaken our union and diminish our bargaining power,” adding that “if this vote passes, we give Canada Post the green light to steamroll workers now and in the future.”
“While we are disappointed in the results, we want to thank employees for participating in the process,” a Canada Post spokesperson wrote in a July 31 email to The Epoch Times, adding that the rejection of their offers means “the uncertainty that has been significantly impacting our business – and the many Canadians and Canadian businesses who depend on Canada Post – will continue.”
The vote to accept or reject Canada Post’s new offer occurred after Labour Minister Patty Hajdu intervened, forcing a vote conducted by the Canada Industrial Relations Board (CIRB) that ran July 21 to Aug. 1.
Canada Post and CUPW have been locked in a standoff over wages and work conditions for more than 18 months, with CUPW saying Canada Post is using the publicity about its financial problems to pressure the union into a bad deal and is not giving owed holiday time to workers, among a host of other allegations.
CUPW has said it would immediately negotiate to reach a new deal if the offer was rejected, as it now has been, saying that if progress isn’t made Ottawa might enact binding arbitration or pass a back-to-work law.
Canada Post has said that its rejected offer would have protected vital worker benefits while putting in changes that would bring back the service’s parcel business. Canada Post has a 91 percent ownership stake in Purolator, rising from the initial stake it purchased of 75 percent in 1993.
“We know the ongoing labour uncertainty has had a significant impact on our customers and that they’ve had to adapt their business operations,” Canada Post said in a statement last month. “This is not the position we wanted to put them in.”
CUPW members went on strike in November 2024, leading many Canada Post offices to shut down until just before Christmas when they were ordered back to work by the CIRB. The Canadian Federation of Independent Business said the strike had caused small businesses in Canada to lose around $1.6 billion.
An assessment by CIRB found that Canada Post was effectively “bankrupt” and advised cutting costs by ending door-to-door mail services and increasing part-time staffing positions.
This June, Canada Post said it was experiencing revenue losses of around $10 million per day, after having racked up $803 million in operating losses from the beginning of 2024 to September, part of an estimated $3.8 billion in losses since 2018. Ottawa extended a $1 billion loan to Canada Post in January of this year.