Sunday October 12, 2025 | NATIONAL NEWS [Updated October 14, 2025]
by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
Mail and parcels started moving in the Canada Post system yesterday, but customers should still expect delays.
This shift to some postal service comes as Canada Post employees — members of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) — shift from being fully on strike to instead conducting rotating strikes across the country as of 6 am local time on Saturday October 11.
The reactivation of workers on the job also comes on the Thanksgiving long weekend.
In the last year, Canadians and Canadian businesses have been subject to more than 170 days of strike activity by the CUPW including two national strikes.
Welcome back:
Canada Post said it would “welcome back employees represented by the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) on Saturday, October 11”.
Safe orderly restart:
“Plans are now underway to ensure a safe and orderly restart of our national operations, which were shut down without warning on September 25 following the union’s sudden national strike,” said Canada Post in a statement to business customers on Friday October 10.
Canada Post says to expect “uncertainty and instability in the postal service” under the current conditions. Indeed, CUPW says that “as with previous rotating strikes, we will not be announcing strike locations, dates, times, nor durations in advance.”
Service guarantees suspended:
During a rotating strike, Canada Post will accept, process and deliver mail and parcels in unaffected areas, but delays should still be expected.
“Shutting down and restarting parts of our integrated national network with rotating strikes has always challenged our ability to provide reliable service to customers. As a result, all service guarantees will be suspended,” said Canada Post in their message to customers.
On-time delivery guarantees for parcel services remain suspended and date-specific Neighbourhood Mail™ will not be available. An update on this is yet to come.
Moving from full, national strike to rotating strikes:
CUPW is clearly intending to still keep Canada Post on its toes, as a disruption strategy
“We will have to manage both resuming operations and potential disruption at select facilities. At this time, we are not aware of which locations will be impacted when rotating strike activity begins,” said Canada Post.
Processing of mail and parcels:
Canada Post says that when employees are back on the job that processing will begin first with the mail and parcels that have been trapped in the network.
“As we continue to operate with an unstable network, it will take time to clear the trapped volume and manage operational resources, so customers should expect delays in processing and delivery,” said Canada Post.
Pickups and drop-offs:
Some limitations will apply after Canada Post operations resume – including for pickups and drop-offs.
New commercial volumes will be accepted into the network starting Wednesday October 15.
Items will be delivered as quickly as possible after a disruption is over and operations resume, says Canada Post.
Negotiations:
Canada Post says it’s time for CUPW to return to the bargaining table to reach new collective agreements.
The company says it is waiting to hear back from the union on its latest offers presented to the union on October 3. Those offers put forward proposals that are “affordable and treat employees fairly given the challenges we face”, said Canada Post on October 10.
“Only new collective agreements will provide the certainty Canadians require to confidently use the postal system, said Canada Post on Friday.
Canada Post says it wants to “align with the current needs of the country” and to reduce dependency on taxpayer dollars.
===== RELATED:
- Rotating strike: mail and parcels to start moving Oct 11 by Canada Post workers (October 10, 2025)
- Postal strike generates more use of e-deposit (October 6, 2025)
- Canada Post & their workers on a journey to new realities (October 6, 2025)
- Federal government ends door-to-door Canada Post delivery, workers go on strike (September 26, 2025)
- Canada Post preparing new global offers for CUPW (September 19, 2025)
- No flyer delivery as Canada Post workers continue job action (September 12, 2025)
- What can possibly break the Canada Post bargaining stalemate? (August 6, 2025)
- Canada Post unionized employees may vote on Canada Post’s final offers (July 18, 2025)
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