Canada Post Workers Go on Strike Friday Morning, Disrupting Deliveries

A Canada Post mail carrier delivers packages on their route in Montreal on Nov.13, 2024. The Canadian Press/Christinne Muschi

Canada Post workers are on strike after the national postal service and the union representing its workers failed to finalize a new collective agreement.

Approximately 55,000 workers across the country walked off the job just after midnight on Nov. 15, after unsuccessful talks at the bargaining table, the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) said in a press release.

“Canada Post had the opportunity to prevent this strike, but it has refused to negotiate real solutions to the issues postal workers face every day,” the union said. “Instead, Canada Post left us no choice when it threatened to change our working conditions and leave our members exposed to layoffs.”

The walkout comes 72 hours after the union issued strike notice to the Crown agency that employs its workers.

Canada Post responded to the strike threat from its postal workers by delivering a lockout notice to their union Nov. 13, although the agency said it didn’t actually intend to lock workers out.

The government-owned postal service confirmed Nov. 15 that customers will experience delays due to the strike.

“Mail and parcels will not be processed or delivered for the duration of the national strike, and some post offices will be closed,” Canada Post said in a statement. “Service guarantees will be impacted for items already in the postal network. No new items will be accepted until the national disruption is over.”

Resumption of normal processing and mail delivery will take time to get back to normal once the strike is over, the agency noted.

The one exception to that rule is government-issued cheques. The two sides agreed cheques for this month will be delivered on Nov. 20, Canada Post said in a press release.

Federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon said he has appointed the director general of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Services as a special mediator to help expedite negotiations between the two parties.

“Our top federal mediators have been working with the parties tirelessly, and we are now sending additional resources to the bargaining table,” MacKinnon said in a Nov. 14 social media post. “We are making sure that these two groups have everything they need to reach a deal.”

MacKinnon did not say if the government is considering back to work legislation but the Liberal government has done so in the past. Ottawa enacted Bill C-89 during the 2018 postal strike, forcing the postal workers to return to work after three days.

Negotiations

The two sides had been at the bargaining table for nearly a year before talks broke down.

Canada Post’s most recent contract offer included annual wage increases totalling 11.5 percent over a four-year period. It also guaranteed safeguards for the defined benefit pension of current employees, along with job security and health benefits.

The union rejected the proposal.

“Our demands are reasonable: fair wages, safe working conditions, the right to retire with dignity, and the expansion of services at the public post office,” the union said in its Nov. 15 press release. “We still believe we can achieve negotiated collective agreements, but Canada Post must be willing to resolve our new and outstanding issues.”

Canada Post has said it is attempting to negotiate a “more flexible delivery model” that would allow affordable seven-day-a-week parcel delivery.

That goal comes at a time when the government-owned entity has lost $490 million in the first half of this year and a total of $3 billion since 2018.

Canada Post said a strike would give it the means under the Canada Labour Code, to “adjust operations based on its operational realities and business needs.”

“To secure the future of the business, the Corporation needs a more flexible and affordable delivery model that allows it to deliver seven days a week and quickly respond to the needs of customers,” Canada Post said in a press release. “Without these changes, the significant challenges facing Canada Post will intensify.”