Wednesday August 6, 2025 | VICTORIA, BC [Updated August 8, 2025]
Economic analysis by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
Five days ago, about 69% of Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) employees voted to reject the offer from their employer, Canada Post:
- 68.5 per cent of urban mail carriers who voted were against the deal,
- rural and suburban carriers were 69.4 per cent against.
There had been a voting period of July 21 to August 1.
This outcome could send both parties back to the negotiating table. Or it could lead to binding arbitration by an arbitrator.
Unresolved gap:
CUPW union leadership had lobbied their employees to reject the offer. Canada Post was encouraging the employees to accept the offer as part of the crown corporation’s efforts to keep operations afloat while a shift to operational changes can be made.
Canada Post wants to hire part-time workers and deliver mail on weekends. Delivering mail two or three times a week (instead of daily on weekdays) might be helpful to corporate operations and their bottom line.
Staying afloat:
To help maintain operations this year, in January 2025 the federal government issued a $1.034 billion loan to Canada Post.
The corporation is trying to adapt to modern business realities including competition from companies that are delivering ‘next day’ and on weekends. The union is holding firm to seeing that the employer offers rock-solid full-time employment to its workers. Those goals are in many ways worlds apart.
Over many years the price of postage stamps went up only minimally. Considering the resources required to deliver letters to ‘every address’ in Canada, that was a missed revenue opportunity.
Hope of a resolution?
Negotiations have gone on for over a year and a half, and there was already a full postal strike for a month in November/December 2024. Technically speaking, the union is still working with a no-overtime ban.
Canada Post workers have some of the best job guarantees in the country and naturally they want to hold onto that. But driving Canada Post (their employer) into the ground seems not to be a reasonable solution. Not that wage increases aren’t justified, but adaptation of the employer’s business model is also not only justified but essential.
Update (August 8, 2025):
NDP are supporting CUPW:
On August 8, NDP Interim Leader Don Davies posted (on X) his party’s support for CUPW unionized workers, and blames the federal labour minister for forcing the union to vote:
“I stand with CUPW members who rejected Canada Post’s inadequate offer after Minister Hajdu forced a vote on this so-called final deal. Workers have spoken & New Democrats will keep fighting with them for better wages & conditions, in Parliament & on picket line.”
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